42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.73 



the bird is very abundant, it seems highly probable that the species 

 does nest in the ground. It brings to my recollection a statement made 

 by Mr. D. W. Bisshop, in a letter to the game warden, which was 

 written from somewhere in the vicinity of the Pare Mountains. He 

 said that while walking along the road he was surprised to see a bird 

 about the size of a thrush, but which he thought was a woodpecker, 

 alight in the road and vanish from sight. On reaching the spot he 

 found a vertical hole in the flat ground and on applying his ear to the 

 entrance could distinctly hear the cheeping of nestlings. 



Of course such a mode of nesting is only feasible in a dry region 

 where the absence of rain may be depended on. (Dodoma, vi. 26.) 



COLIUS MACROUEUS PULCHER Neumann 

 BLUE-NAPED COIY 



Great numbers of these handsome little long-tailed mouse birds 

 were brought in; at the time of writing we have 60 in one cage. 

 They do not make good cage birds, owing to their habit of clustering 

 together and dropping over one another's plumage until they get into 

 an appalling mess. In an aviary they would doubtless keep clean and 

 look more attractive, as they are excessively hardy. It was a pitiful 

 sight to see these docile Httle birds brought in crowded together in 

 a gourd ("kibuyu"), frequently their feathers hopelessly messed up 

 with bird lime ("ulambo") and their long tails missing. Explaining 

 to the dense Wagogo youngsters seemed useless until we refused to 

 purchase any birds but those in good condition. The numbers fell 

 off greatly but in a couple of weeks 90 per cent of the birds brought 

 in were in excellent shape. 



They crave papaw, which they fall upon greedUy and distend their 

 crops until these look like so many rubber balloons. The food soon 

 passes through them and I doubt if it is really good for them. Under 

 natural conditions I have seen them feeding on a tree burdened with 

 a crop of hard berries. In captivity they become remarkably tame, 

 rarely attempting to escape, and allowing themselves to be freely 

 handled. Their whistling cry at the sight of food was a characteristic 

 noise at feeding time. 



Plenty of sand in the cages is a necessity, and this should be 

 changed daily. (Dodoma, vi. 26.) 



CORACIAS CAUDATUS CAUDATUS Linnaeus 



IIIAC-BREASTED ROLLER 



Two of these birds were brought in during the month; they did 

 not take very kindly to meat immediately, being rapacious over their 

 natural diet of grasshoppers, which they could hardly ever view with 

 indifference. 



