166 ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCHES 



Hab. Sierra Leone , Liberia , Gaboon , R. Ogobai. 



Two male specimens from Sofore Place (St. Paul). 



This very rare bird is but occasionally seen in brush- 

 wood , surrounded by high forest. There it sits for hours 

 motionless on some twig not very high above the ground , 

 pushing forth now and then a harsh cry. It is not shy at 

 all and will hardly move even when within reach of gun- 

 shot. Never observed in the coast region. Food: beetles 

 and other insects. 



One of my specimens (fully adult) is entirely white un- 

 derneath, while a younger male has the feathers on chest 

 and flanks margined with a very narrow black line. Sides 

 of body in both specimens black , under wing-coverts white , 

 except those of the primaries, which form a black patch. 



Iris dark brown, bill vermilion-red, feet brown. 



Haley on s e micaerul e a. 



Alcedo semicaerulea , Forsk. Descr. Anim. p. 2. 



Halcyon semicaerulea and H. rufiventris , Hartl. Orn. W. 

 Afr. p. 33. 



Halcyon semicaerulea and H. erythrogastra , Sharpe , Mon., 

 Alced. pi. 64 and 63. 



Dacelo semicaerulea., Schl. Mus. P.-B., Revue Alced. p. 19. 



Hab. Canaries , St. Jago , West Coast of Africa from the 

 Senegal to the Cunene River; Abyssinia. 



Although far from being a viyaceous bird , the White- 

 headed Kingfisher is not quite as sluggish as the foregoing 

 species. It inhabits brushwood and adjacent farms. 



Iris blackish brown, bill and feet coral-red. 



Merops alhicollis, 



Merops alhicollis, Vieill. N. Diet. H. N. XIV, p. 15; — 

 Hartl. Orn. W. Afr. p. 39; — Schl. Mus. P.-B., Merops, 

 p. 5 ; — Boc. Orn. d' Angola, p. 88. 



Hab. Senegal to Gaboon. 



^otes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. VII. 



