COSMOPSARUS REGIUS 49 



Cosmopsarus regius. 



Cosmopsarus regius, Eeichen. Orn. Centralbl. 1879, p. 108 Massa ; 

 Fischer and Eeichen. J. f. O. 1879, p. 3:21, pi. 1, fig. 1 ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 160 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 584 (1896) ; 

 Reichen. Yog. Afr. ii. p. 713 (1903) ; Witherby, Ibis, 1905, p. 518 

 Somali; Erlanger, J. f. O. 1905, p. 711 Gallaland ; Reichen. Vog. 

 Afr. iii. p. 838 (1905). 



Adult. Back and wings bright steel blue, shading into golden green on 

 the head and neck ; upper tail-coverts slightly greener than the mantle ; 

 tail glossy bronze shading into dusky violet towards the ends and inner 

 edges of all but the centre pair of feathers ; outermost feather with an 

 imperfect margin and shaft-stripe buff; wings deeper blue than the back, 

 with a gloss of violet red on the outer webs of the primaries ; median and 

 greater coverts with black terminal spots to a few of the feathers; under 

 surface of the tail and quills black ; under wing-coverts, with a broad outer 

 band of them, steel blue, the remainder glossy golden yellow like tiie entire 

 breast, thighs and under tail-eoverts ; lores black, shading into steel blue on 

 the ear-coverts ; the green neck shading into steel blue oa the lower throat 

 passes into a broad reddish violet crop-band. Iris white ; bill and feet 

 black. Total length 11 inches, culmen 075, wing 5-1, tail 85, tarsus 1-25. 

 3, 2. 12. 97, Arabsiyo (Hawker), and J, 4. 12. 94, Dulugop (Gillett). 

 Wing 5-4, tail 9-6. 



Immature. Much duller; head and neck brown with the throat paler; 

 the black spots on the wing-coverts and the red shade on the primaries 

 almost absent ; base and ends of centre tail-feathers strongly shaded with 

 dusky violet ; most of under wing-coverts, like the breast, yellowish sand- 

 colour. Wing 5*0, tail 6-4. 



The Golden-breasted Glossy Starling ranges from the Pare 

 Mountams into Southern Abyssinia. 



The species was discovered at Massa by Fischer, who also 

 met with it on the Pare Plateau, on two occasions, frequenting 

 the scattered acacia bushes in parties of six to eight, and 

 was very shy. These habits of the bird hold good throughout 

 its range, and it appears to be nowhere very abundant, though 

 most plentiful in Somaliland. 



Dr. Hind obtained a specimen at Machako's, and Mr. 

 Jackson one on the Wilderness Mountain near Ndai, and calls 

 them " plentiful, in small flocks of four to eight." In Western 



[January, 1900. 4 



