LAMPROTORNIS PURPUREUS 79 



blue on the lower liaek ; upper tail-coverts washed with violet ; tail above 

 steel blue with a red shade ou the centre feathers and passing into green 

 on the sides and end ; wings glossy green, with the lesser series of 

 coverts uniform steel blue ; median and greater coverts with terminal 

 velvety black spots ; under surface of wings and tail dull brownish black, 

 with the under wing-coverts glossy violet blue ; sides of abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts steel blue, less shaded with red than the remainder of the under 

 parts. Iris golden yellow ; bill and legs black. Total length 88 inches, 

 culmen 1-0, wing 5-7, tail 3-0, tarsus 1-3. 27. 2. 70, Accra (T. E. Buckley). 



Immature. Differs in being duller, in having no black spots on the 

 wings ; sides of head and entire under parts dusky black with a blue gloss 

 at the edges of the feathers, Volta E. (Ussher). 



The Purple Glossj^ Starling ranges from Senegambia to 

 the Niger and eastward through Equatorial Africa into 

 Kavirondo. 



The types of Lamprotornis lucidus, Nordm., and L.j^tilono- 

 rlujnclius, Swains., both came from Senegal. Marche and De 

 Compiegne collected specimens at Dakar, M'bao, Euffisque, 

 Hann, Deine, Daranka and near Casamanse. Dr. P. Kendall 

 writes : " The native hunters shoot and skin the birds in large 

 numbers, and sell them to the French firms trading on the 

 Gambia, who, as I learn, supply Parisian hat manufacturers." 

 Mr. Budgett mentions it as " very common " on McCarthy 

 Island, so it is strange not to find it recorded from Liberia, for 

 it is plentiful on the Gold Coast. Buckley and I met with 

 them in flocks on the open country which surrounds Accra, 

 Captain Giffard procured the species at Gambaga, Mr. Boyd 

 Alexander found it in large flocks inland near the Volta, and 

 these Starlings have been obtained at many places in Togo- 

 land. In Dahomey, according to Mr. F. Newton, it is known 

 to the natives as the " Ago-he." In the Niger district the 

 species has been obtained by Forbes at Lokoja, and Dr. 

 Hartert found it rare at Loko, but abundant at Anassarawa 

 and in the northern provinces. 



The occurrence of the species further south in West Africa 



