CINNYRICINCLUS LEUCOGASTER 39 



edges near the bend of the wing; crop, under surface of body and the under 

 tail-coverts pure white passing into dusky ash on the flanks, with a few 

 blackish stripes on the neighbouring white feathers. Iris yellow ; bill and 

 feet black. Total length 7-1 inches, eulmen 0-5, wing 4-2, tail 2-G, tarsus OS- 

 Mensa (Esler). 



Adult female. Upper parts and sides of head brown, with pale edges to 

 the feathers ; the nine long primaries, with a large portion of their inner 

 webs pale cinnamon ; the small first primary and the under wing-coverts 

 brown, the latter somewhat mottled with pale cinnamon and buff edges ; 

 under parts white with a very slight sandy tinge on the throat and nearly all 

 the feathers spotted or striped with dark brown. Wing 3-95, Mensa (Eslei"). 



Iiiiinaliire of both sexes. Like the adult female, but the pale edges of the 

 feathers of the upper parts generally broader and more rufous. In the moult 

 of the males the feathers do not change their colour, but are shed. This 

 is well shown in one of Ku'by's specimens from the Gold Coast. On each 

 wing the two outer long primaries are in the rufous stage, the next quill 

 being half grown and uniform black like the other quills. 



The Northern Violet-backed Starhng ranges over Tropical 

 Africa from 17° N. lat. to Gaboon, on the west, and to the 

 Equator in Central and Eastern Africa. 



In West Africa the species is known to range from St. 

 Louis at the month of the Senegal Eiver, into Gaboon, and 

 is apparently abundant and very evenly distributed over this 

 part of Africa to the north of 5° N. lat., and is likewise 

 plentiful in North-east Africa until we approach Somaliland 

 and the Equator. It meets with its very near ally, C. ver- 

 reauxi, along its southern range, but we have no reason to 

 suppose that they ever interbreed, for the amount of white 

 on the outer webs of the tail, the only distinguishing mark 

 for C. verreaiixi, is very constant. 



C. leucogaster has been procured on Bulama, the only 

 island from whence the species has been recorded. In 

 Liberia, Mr. Biittikofer met with it most frequently in the 

 open country, the females and young birds perching together 

 on the bushes while the full-plumaged males kept by them- 

 selves at some little distance. During my visit to the Gold 



