126 ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCHES 



82. Agelastes meleagrides, Bp. (apud Ternin.). 



A series of specimens of both sexes in different stages 

 of plumage , from the Gallilee Mountain. 



All the specimens got trapped by natives, and Mr. 

 Stampfli, who bought them and kept them alive for some 

 weeks, confirms what I told in my former paper about 

 the color of the naked parts. The birds must have be- 

 longed to one large travelling flock, as they all were 

 caught within one week, towards the end of July, while 

 neither before nor after that time specimens of this spe- 

 cies have been seen in that part of the country. Mr. Stampfli 

 sent me the following notes about his splendid acquisition: 

 »My eight specimens of red-heads are all well and become 

 quite tame. In the beginning they ate nothing but bug-a- 

 bugs (larvae of Termes mordax), but now I got them so 

 far that they eat rice also. It is really a pleasure to look 

 at the flock while feeding, and the naked pink-red heads 

 with the milky white necks suit wonderfully to the broad 

 collar of dirty white feathers. Directly after death the pink 

 on head and upper neck changes into pale rosy, and the 

 milky white lower neck becomes purplish and afterwards 

 almost black." Unfortunately all these birds got poisoned 

 shortly after above- note was written. The whole lot of 

 these birds compared with those of our former collections 

 and with the two typical specimens in our Museum are 

 not able to enrich our knowledge of the species very much , 

 as all of them are about fully adult. Only one specimen 

 shows plainly, that the feathers of the collar are originally 

 pure white and get afterwards the isabel tinge, which is 

 thus the result of external influences. 



The female is entirely similar to the male , only the 

 spur is wanting. 



83. Francolinus ahantensis, Temm. J ) 



Adult male and female , Mount Olive. The adult male 



1) This specific name has got altered into ashantensis by several Authors; it 

 is to be observed, however, that the bird is not named after Ashantee , but 

 after the province of Ahanta, in the Coast region of the Gold Coast. 



Notes from the Leyden Museum , Vol XI. 



