LAMPROTORNIS ACUTICAUDUS 69 



Lamprotornis acuticaudus. 



Lauiprocolius acuticaudus, Bocagc, Jorn. Lisb. 1870, p. 315 Hidlla ; id. 



Orn. Angola, p. 309, pi. G (1881); Shelley, B. AlV. I. No. 597 (1896). 

 Heturopsar acuticaudus, Sbarpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 185 (1890) ; Eeichen. 



Yog. Afr. ii. p. 696 (1903). 



Adult male. General plumage glossy gresii ; in frout of eyes black ; 

 ear-coverts steel blue ; wings with the inner two-thirds of the lesser coverts 

 steel blue and coppery lilac ; ends of median and greater coverts and inner 

 secondaries with black spots ; inner edges of primaries and under surface 

 of the quills and tail dusky brown ; under wing-coverts glossy deep blue, 

 passing into green along tlie bend of the wing ; sides of body slightly shaded 

 with blue. " Iris orange yellow ; bill and feet black." Total length 9-8 inches, 

 cuhneu 0-9, wing i-9, tail i-i, tarsus 1-25. J , 8. 77, Caconda (Anchieta). 



Female. Similar to the male. Wing 1-9. 



Immature. Much duller, with the base of the feathers of head, neck and 

 body dusky brown ; chin, throat and broad edges to the other feathers of 

 the under parts brownish bull'; tail as in the adult; remainder of upper 

 parts glossed with greenish yellow, most stroogly so on the wings which have 

 no black spots, and no cojipur nor red shade of the lesser coverts ; in front 

 of the eye and the ear-coverts black ; forehead, back of head and neck, with 

 small brownish butf margins to the feathers ; wing i-6, ^ . 11. 77, Caconda 

 (Anchieta). 



The Greeu Wedge-tailed Glossy Starling ranges from 

 Angola into Ovanipoland. 



Little is known regarding the habits of this well marked 

 species. Specimens lia^'e been collected by Schlitt and 

 Mechow at Malanji, and others by Mechow at Kambo and 

 the Ivuango Kiver. Further south the type was discovered 

 on the elevated plateau country round Huilla by Anchieta, 

 who remarks that it feeds chiefly upon fruit and is known 

 at that place as the "Eiabairo," and at Galanga as the 

 " Jabairo," and according to Sesinando Marques, it is the 

 "Mucombc" of the native at the Lehe Eivcr; but we arc 

 not informed by which of the names it is known at Caconda, 

 Cahata or Quindumbo, at all of which places the species 

 has been met with by Anchieta. 



