60 LAMPROTORNIS MEVESI 



Adult female. Differs in the front half of the crown, and the throat 

 being more green than blue ; back of crown only slightly shaded with 

 violet ; lower back and breast more lilac with scarcely any copper shade. 

 Wing 5-8, tail 7-8. ",?"?, 5. G. 67 (Andersson). 



L. henguelcusis. Nearly allied to L. vievcsi, but differing in the head, 

 neck, mantle and tail being reddish violet with scarcely any trace of blue 

 and DO green ; lower back and breast almost uniform coppery bronze. 

 Head, neck, mantle, wings and tail reddish violet ; crown and mantle 

 mottled with a coppery shade ; remainder of back and the upper tail- 

 coverts coppery bronze, with a slight lilac shade on the tail-coverts ; tail 

 reddish violet brighter on the centre feathers, and crossed by a number 

 of obscurely marked narrow blackish bars ; wings sometimes, but not 

 always, bluer than the mantle, and with some obscure blackish bars and 

 obsolete subterminal blackish patches on a few of the coverts ; under 

 surface of tail and wings black, witli a coppery violet gloss on the wing- 

 coverts ; in front of eye black ; breast, thighs and under tail-coverts black, 

 with a very slight reddish violet shade, these parts being nearly imiformly 

 glossed with coppery bronze. "Iris brown; bill and feet black." Total 

 length 14-6 inches, culmen 0-7, wing G-0, tail 8-7, tarsus 1-5. J , Eio 

 Chimba (Anchieta). 



Immature. " Ashy shaded pale brown, faintly glossed with violet on 

 the head, back, wings, tail and breast ; primaries dusky brown with the 

 outer margins violet ; tail feathers of the same colour as the back, but with 

 dull brown bars like the secondaries and greater wing-coverts " (Bocage). 



Meve's Long-tailed G-lossy Starling inhabits Southern 

 Tropical Africa, ranging from Mossaniedes into Daniaraland 

 on the west, and from the Limpopo into Nyasaland on 

 the east, and is represented in Benguela by the closely allied 

 L. hengiielensis, the Benguela Long-tailed Glossy Starling. 



The latter, extremely local, form, has been recorded from 

 the Quillenges and Capangombe district only, which includes 

 the Eio Chimbo. The type of L. purjmreus, Bocage, was dis- 

 covered at the Capangombe Kiver in 1867 by Anchieta, and 

 according to his notes the species is abundant and resident 

 there, not leaving the country, as most birds do, on the 

 approach of the rainy season. He informs us that it is 

 known to the natives as the " Melombe-anganza," a name 



