178 Dr. E. Hopkinson—The White-crowned Chat-thrush


frequenters, the larger of our two Chat-Thrushes. The smaller ( C .

verticalis ) is, I should have said, a distinctly rarer bird in the Gambia,

and is more a haunter of the creek or riverside bush than of these wells,

where besides a pair of Cossypha one is almost certain to find all day and

every day a pair of the gorgeous scarlet-breasted Barbary Shrikes and

a pair of Honey-Guides. These constitute the residents, but numerous

other birds also visit the wells for water, usually very early in the

morning, at midday, and late in the evening, that is when they are not

in use for their proper purpose, cattle-watering, and when the birds

and their attendant small boys are away.


Doves and Bush-fowl are from their size the most noticeable of the

early and late visitors, but one can also be certain of seeing parties of

Dusky Bulbuls, Broad-tailed and Black-crowned Babblers, a Drongo

or two, and various Waxbills and Glossy Starlings, though these seem

to come for water in large numbers during the midday hours, when

Doves and Bush-fowl never seem to want a drink.


Our two Gambian species of Cossypha in general behaviour and

looks eeem to me to be nearer the Babblers than the true Thrushes.

The general shape, especially the leggy look, their movements, and

notes are most Babbler-like, and in captivity their ways and food

requirements agree exactly with those of the two Babblers (Crateropus),

which I have kept at different times


I regret that I know nothing about the nesting or the eggs of these

birds, nor can I find any record of these or of the other West African

species, but will quote from two sources most interesting accounts

about some more southern representatives. This will provide a more

complete account of the charming birds of the genus Cossypha.


In Stark k Sclater’s Birds of South Africa (vol. ii, 1901, p. 209)

five species of Cossypha are described, under the English name “ Robin-

Chats these are :—


C. bicolor (Sparrm.) and C. natalensis, Smith, both confined to South

Africa, where they are popularly known as “ Piet-myn-vrouw


C. heuglini, Hartlaub, ranging from North-East South Africa to

the Upper Nile.


C. cajfra (Linn.), the “ Jan Fredrik ” of South Africa.


C. humeralis (Smith), Northern and Eastern South Africa.



