6 MACRONYX CROCEUS. 



Although abundant thi'oughout this wide area the birds 

 select certain damp grassy spots, usually very limited in 

 area, from which tliey rarely wander. This habit is apparently 

 common to all the species of Macronyx. 



The most northern locality yet recorded for this species 

 is St. Louis, at the mouth of the Senegal river, where 

 Laglaise procured a specimen which is now in the British 

 Museum. Swainson received the type of his M. flaingaster 

 from Senegal and Verreaux specimens, from Casamanse and 

 Sierra Leone. Dr. Biittikofer, while in Liberia, found them 

 abundant on the flat country by the Grand Cape Mount 

 river after it left Fisherman Lake, though in other places, 

 offering apparently the same conditions, he never saw a 

 specimen. 



On the Grold Coast Ussher found these birds almost 

 invariably in pairs and remarks : " The male appears very 

 fond of the female, and while the latter remains on the 

 ground the male will take a short flight or soar above her. 

 They will frequently perch on bushes, especially if disturbed, 

 but as a rule they prefer marshy and grassy ground." 



The genus Macronyx is not likely to be represented in 

 the densely wooded mountains of Aguapim, so the specimen 

 recorded in the list of Riis's collection from that district, 

 no doubt came from the plains of Accra where the present 

 species is abundant. Ussher met with it at the Volta river, 

 and Baumann in Togoland. In the Niger district Forbes 

 found these birds at Shonga and Mr. Hartert met with them 

 in tbe Kashia valley. 



The species has not been recorded from Camaroons, but 

 has been met with in Gaboon by Da Chaillu at Cape Lopez 

 and by Marche at Fernand Vaz. Falkenstein, Lucan and 

 Petit have all procured specimens on the Loango Coast, and 

 Bohndorff on the Congo river at Leopoldville. Monteiro 



