Birds of Fernando Po. 359 



30. Corvus scapulatus Daud. 



Corvus leuconotus Allen & Thorns. Narr. Exped. Niger, 

 ii. p. 221 (Fernando Po). 



Corvus curvirostris Gould; Hartl. Orn. "YV.-Afr. p. 114< 

 (1857: Fernando Po). 



Corvus scapulatus Bocage, Jorn. Lisb. (2) iv. p. 9 (1895 : 

 Fernando Po) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i. no. 634 (1896) ; Salvad. 

 Orn. Golfo d. Guinea, iii. p. 116. 



Common along the coast. 



31. Dicrurus afer (Licht.). 



Corvus afer Licht. Cat. llev. Nat. llamb. p. 10 (1793). 



Dicrurus afer Shelley, B. Afr. i. no. 646 (1896). 



Dicrurus cor acinus Reichen. ; Shelley, Ibis, 1901, p. 590. 



Ad. S ; ad. ? . Banterbari, Nov. 29, 1902. Iris pinkish 

 red. 



These two specimens are in fine glossy plumage and arc 

 identical with others obtained by me in Ashanti. In my 

 paper on the Gold Coast birds (Ibis, 1902, p. 278) I 

 separated the Hinterland specimens from those of the forest- 

 region as D. coracinus on account of the duller coloration of 

 the upper parts and of the almost whitish-brown inner webs 

 of the primaries ; but I have since collected further speci- 

 mens in the Hinterland during the month of August, when the 

 birds were in fresh plumage, and find that they are practically 

 identical with the Ashanti specimens (D. afer). 



The more open country, and the consequently greater 

 power of the sun, would soon bleach the glossy plumage of 

 these Drongos ; thereby accounting for their generally duller 

 appearance. The gloss on the plumage is undoubtedly affected 

 by the season and the atmosphere. In the forest-regiou, 

 where the rainfall is greater and the sunlight more subdued, 

 a fresher and more glossy plumage is always to be noticed. 



In Fernando Po Dicrurus afer is by no means common. 

 We observed it at an altitude of 4000 feet in the thick forest 

 and at the top of the high cotton-trees among the cocoa- 

 plantations near the coast. From these points of vantage 

 the birds continually uttered their peculiar chattering songSj 



