66 LAMPROTORNIS SPLENDIDUS 



Lamproeolius lessoni (non Pucher.), Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 173, pi. 7, 

 fig. 3, head (1890, ? ) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 595 (1896, pt.) ; Eeichen. 

 Yog. Afr. ii. p. 694 (1903). 



Merle vert d' Angola, Daubent. PI. Enl. iv. pi. 561. 



Adult male. Forehead and sides of head in front of the eyes black ; 

 crown, back and sides of neck, lower back and upper tail-coverts metallic 

 green, the latter parts and the nape slightly tinged with blue ; mantle violet 

 shaded blue ; tail velvety black, with an outer edge and a broad terminal 

 band of metallic bluish green ; wing-coverts, outer edges and ends of the 

 primaries glossy green of a more coppery shade on the greater-coverts and 

 base of the secondaries ; medium and greater-coverts with jet black sub- 

 terminal bars, and a broad velvety black bar crosses the secondaries ; cheeks 

 and ear-coverts steel blue ; a triangular patch of copper on the neck behind 

 the cheeks ; throat reddish violet shading into blue on the sides and crop 

 and passing into a broad copper band across the chest ; abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts glossy green shading into violet blue on the lower chest 

 and thighs ; under surface of the tail and wings dull black with glossy edges 

 to the under wing-coverts mostly violet, but passing into green at the bend 

 of the wing. Iris yellowish white ; bill and feet black. Total length 12 

 inches, culmen 08, wing 6-2, tail 50, tarsus 1-3. 2. 83, Semmio (Bohndorff). 



The Eastern Splendid Glossy Starling ranges from 

 Camaroons into Angola and eastward to Kavirondo and 

 the Kaffa country, about 38° E. long. 



This magnificent bird is, according to Dr. Eeichenow, the 

 commonest of the Glossy Starlings in Camaroons and Gaboon. 

 It is apparently not much less abundant to as far south as 

 Angola, for Monteiro writes : " Tolerably common at Bembe 

 and more so near the coast, being found in flocks of twent}- to 

 thirty. It has a clear whistle like that of a Starling." 



The type was discovered by Perrein at Malimbe. In the 

 British Museum Catalogue the head of the adult male has been 

 figured under the name of L. glaucovirens, and that of the 

 female as L. lessoni (pi. 7, figs. 2, 3), owing to the bluer shade 

 of the throat and the patch on the sides of the neck being 

 more lilac in females than in the males. The species has also 

 been obtained in Loango and Lower Congo (Lucan and Petit), 

 Loanda (Toulson), Stanley Pool (Tensz), Niam-Niam (Bohn- 



