CRYPTO RHIN A AFRA I«l 



which do not rise a thousand feet above the valleys, are 

 covered with forest, with the exception of a few bare cliffs. 

 " Along the sides of the hills, under the trees, are many 

 large scattered rocks, with holes and small caves among and 

 under them, where porcupines iiide, bats hang, and Swallows 

 and Bare-headed Crows (Ficatharte.'i), make tlieir nest of 

 mud." 



Genus V. CRYPTOBHINA. 



Ttie sexes ditfer oaly iu the colour of the bill, whiuli is, in the males, 

 entirely black, while in the females it is yellowish or red, with the end 

 third black ; nostrils covered by horizontal bristles. Wing rounded, the 

 secondariej reaching nearly to the end. Tail of ten featliers only, long ami 

 graduated, more than half as loag agiiii a^ the wing. Tarsi and feet black, 

 the former longer than the culmen. 



Type. 



Cryptorhina, Wagl. Syst. Av. art. Cryptorhina (1827) . . . . G. afra. 



Ptilostomus, Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 266 (1837) G. afra. 



The genus is coufined to Northern Tropical Africa, wliere it is represented 

 by a single species. 



Cryptorhina afra. 



Cjrvus afer, Linn. S. N. i. p. 157 (1766) Seneyal. 



Cryptorhina afer, Sharp Cat. B. M. iii. p. 75 (1H77| ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. 



No. 643 (1896) ; Reichen. Yog. Afr. ii. p. (U'i (1903). 

 Corvus senegalensis, Linn. S. N. i. p. 158 (1766) Smiajal. 

 Cjracias niger, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 172 (1790). 

 Lanius acuticaudalus, Vieill. N. Diet. xxvi. p. 134 (1818) Senegal.] 

 Cryptorhina piapiac, Wagl. Syst. Av. Cryptorhina, sp. i. (1827). 

 Cryptorhina poicilorhynchos, Wagl. t. c. sp. 2. 

 Le piapiac, Levaill. Ois. Afr. ii. pi. 54 (1799). 



Adult male. Glossy blue-black fading into brown on the rump, upper 

 tail-coverts, tail, primaries, inner webs of secondaries, lower abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts; under surface of primaries white-brown. Iris reddish 

 brown : bill and feet black. Total length 18 inches, culmeu 1'4, wmg 6-5, 

 tail 110, tarsus 1-85. Gambia (Molony). 



Adult female. Differs only in being slightly smaller, and in the colouring 

 of the bills, which is of a pale red or yellow shade, with the end third black. 

 Iris hazel. Totil length 16o inches, caiman IS, wing 6-15, tail 103, tarsus 

 1-8. Gambia (Kendall). 



IJ.anuary, 1906. 11 



