IN WESTERN LIBERIA. 213 



to get ripe , they are sometimes a plague for the farmers , 

 as they eat very much and destroy much more. They re- 

 turn shortly after sunset , some few much later , with the same 

 noise, and it is pretty late when, at last, silence begins 

 to reign in the gigantic sleeping-trees. In the morning 

 as well as in the evening, the flocks keep to their regu- 

 lar routes , but once disturbed by a shot or the like , they 

 will the next time pass the dangerous spot high in the 

 air , or , when disturbed repeatedly , choose another route. 

 They are not easily killed and need a good shot. One of 

 the before mentioned sleeping places I discovered on the 

 Island of Alin, in the St. Paul's River near Sofore 

 Place. As the place was in a swamp, I could not remain 

 there till sunset. Nevertheless I shot several specimens 

 which were preparing for their night's rest, and it v/as 

 hard work to catch and kill them after they had fallen. 



Although this species is very common in Liberia, I was 

 not able to get young specimens of it. Some , probably 

 in a transitional stage of plumage , have some of the wing- 

 coverts of a yellowish or brownish clay-color. The tail- 

 feathers and , in adult specimens , the under tail-coverts 

 are reddish brown , and in one , collected at Buluma near 

 the Fisherman Lake , rusty red , as is mentioned in the 

 original description by Fraser. But never — and we have 

 examined more than fifty specimens — did we find the 

 pale gray general color , the beautiful red tail and the 

 black bill of P. erythacus. The Liberian gray Parrot is , 

 moreover, not by far as intelligent and docile as his more 

 southern congener , and is therefore very seldom found in 

 captivity , Avhile P. erythacus is frequently brought to Li- 

 beria from down the coast by the Krooboys. I regard it 

 as an established fact that P. timneh is the northern re- 

 presentative of P. erythacus , like Agapornis swinderniana for 

 its congener A. pullaria. If it is really found at the Gra- 

 boon , as is ascertained by several authors , I cannot say , 

 as we have no gray Parrots from that locality , but it is 

 probable enough that now and then younger specimens 



Notes from ttie Leyden ]Museum, "Vol. VII. 



