72 Mr. E. Lort Phillips on Birds 



thoroughly drenched, luckily, however, with no ill effects. 

 Arriving at Berbera, we found the little Maidan all bustle and 

 confusion ; it was crowded with tents, as there were tbree 

 shooting expeditions about to start for the far interior ; while 

 a gallant Colonel, lately commanding at Aden, had just 

 arrived from beyond Hainwaina, having had his arm mauled 

 by a lion. To our great joy we found the Royal Indian 

 Marine troopship ' Mayo ' in the harbour, and were kindly 

 offered a passage over to Aden, which we gladly accepted. 

 Captain Mennie again met us with an invitation to Govern- 

 ment House, a delightful termination to a most charming 

 expedition, which we had all of us thoroughly enjoyed. 



In arranging the following field-notes, which give the results 

 of our observations on the birds of the Goolis, I am grate- 

 fully indebted to my friend Dr. Bowdler Sharpe for his very 

 kind assistance. In compiling them I have in most cases 

 given references to Captain Shelley's paper on the birds of 

 my former expedition (Ibis, 1885, pp. 389-418), and have 

 followed nearly the order of classification adopted by him. 



1. PYOCEPHALUS RunvENTRis (Riipp.) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1885, 

 p. 393. 



These lively little Parrots are fairly common wherever the 

 giant Euphorbia is to be found, and are often seen chasing 

 each other with loud screams among the candelabra-like 

 branches. The natives say that they breed in holes in the 

 rotting stems ; but I was never lucky enough to find a nest. 



2. Irrisor erythrorhynchus (Lath.) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1885, 

 p. 395. 



These noisy, evil-smelling birds are fairly common both in 

 the plains and on the Goolis range. They are gregarious, 

 and small parties of 8 or 10 may be seen flying from one 

 big tree to another. On the wing they are almost silent, but 

 the moment they alight they set up a deafening chatter, 

 and, holding tightly on to the bark, they throw themselves 

 backward till their heads are level with their feet. They 

 then regain the upright position and, raising their beaks, all 

 chatter in concert, repeating this performance at each fresh 



