92 SPREO SHELLEYI 



dusky blackish, slightly washed with f:;reenish blue ; no black spots on the 

 wings ; chin and throat dusky brown with a slight rufous shade ; remainder 

 of under parts rufous ; wing 4-3. 4. 2. 95, Kiboko River (Ansorge). 



Hildebnmdt's Spreo inhabits SoutlKTU Equatorial East 

 Africa. 



The most southern range known to nie for this species is 

 Mpapwa, due west of Zanzibar, where it has been procured by 

 Eniiu. Fischer obtained specimens at the Simiu River and 

 at Massa in the Ukamba district, close to Ikanga, where the 

 species is known to the native as the " Itsokoi," and was 

 discovered there by Hildebrandt. In the British Museum 

 there are two of Dr. Ansorge's specimens procured in Ukamba, 

 at Muani, and the Kiboko River. 



Spreo shelleyi (Plate 47, fig. 2). 



Spreo shelleyi, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 190(1890) Somali; Shelley, 

 B. Afr. I. No. 612 (1896); Elliot, Field Columb. Mus. i. No. 2, p. 32 

 (1897) Hand. 



Spreo hildebraudti shelleyi, Eeichen. Yog. Afr. ii. p. 677 (1903) ; iii. 

 p. 837 (1905) ; Erlanger, J. f. 0. 1905, p. 707. 



Ti/2)c. Similar to .S'. liildcbrandti ; but differs in the tail being violet 

 blue with no shade of green, and in the chestnut of the under parts being 

 darker on the chest than on the abdomen and under tail-coverts. " Iris 

 orange " (Donaldson Smith). Total length 8-2 inches, culmen 065, wing 4-6, 

 tail 3-4, tarsus 1-15. Somaliland (L. Phillips). 



Immature. Differs in having the head and neck pale brown, inclining to 

 sandy buff on the throat, these parts mottled with deep blue feathers ; wing 

 4-3. ^ , juv., 7. 12. 94, W. Shebeli (Gillett). 



Shelley's Spreo inhabits Somaliland. 



The type of the species, which I have here figured, was 

 discovered in Somaliland, by Mr. Lort Phillips, who writes : 

 " Very rare, only seen on two or three occasions on the 

 plateau. They were remarkably shy, went in small flocks, 

 and mucli resembled -S'. supcvhua in their habits." Mr. Elliot 



