LAMPROTORNIS MEVESI 61 



which has been apphed in that country also to L. phcenicop- 

 terus, so it probably only means Glossy Starling. 



In Mossaniedes this form gives way to the true L. mevesi, 

 which has been obtained at Humbe and near the Cunene 

 Kiver by Anchieta, who found it known to the natives as 

 the " Jungo." Kellen has also met with it at Humpata. 

 In the British Museum there are three of Andersson's speci- 

 mens from Ovaquenyama, and a little further south, in 

 Kaokoland, it has been procured by Mr. Schlettwein. To 

 the eastward, in Central South Africa, Wahlberg discovered 

 the species at the Doughe Kiver, better known as the 

 Okavango. In the country between the Limpopo and Zambesi 

 specimens have been collected by Mr. Beddington in Matabele, 

 by Holub at Sibanani, and by Frank Gates at the Nata River. 



From the Zambesi Mr. Boyd Alexander writes : " Found 

 in small parties on the low ground overgrown with brush- 

 wood, skirting the hills. By the middle of Gctober these 

 parties had split up into pairs and were then about the only 

 birds to be seen during the heat of the day in the mealie- 

 fields, preying upon locusts. The alarm note is a harsh 

 screech. I take the following observation from my note- 

 book: "While I write, three Long-tailed Starlings are sporting 

 themselves on the bare dried-up ground close to my tent, 

 busj' picking up small grasshoppers. Their behaviour and 

 gait remind me of our Blackbird : first a violent rush forward, 

 then a sudden dip of the head to pick up some morsel, and 

 then on again, the whole time their tail being jerked up 

 and down." 



In Nyasaland specimens have been collected by Mr. Whyte 

 at Mpimbi, by General Manning on the Shire and by Sir 

 Alfred Sharpe at Liwondi and the Dedza highland in about 

 14° 30' S. lat., which is the most northern range known for 

 the species. 



