FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



Captain Shelley regards L. sycobius, from Eastern 

 Africa, Mombasa district to the Zambesi and thence to 

 the Western Transvaal, and L. chloropterus, West 

 Africa from Senegambia to Gaboon and throughout 

 North-eastern and Eastern Africa to the Zambesi, as 

 mere varieties differing in size, the colouring of the 

 head and lesser wing-coverts and the amount of inden- 

 tation on the edge of the inner web of the first four 

 long primaries. Russ makes all three distinct species 

 in his 'book. 



Von Heuglin says : " The breeding season occurs in 

 the months of July to September. One often sees six to 

 eight nests on one and the same tree. As breeding 

 sites, Adansonias, Zizyphus, Balanites, and Acacias are 

 chiefly selected, which stand somewhat isolated. The 

 altitude of the nesting-place varies according to cir- 

 cumstances to from ten to thirty feet. Usually they 

 are constructed of heavy, dry, black scrub ; nests pro- 

 portionately very large are used for several broods. They 

 .stand upon the forks of branches, eometdmes close to 

 the trunk, but mostly upon -weaker branches, and 

 externally resemble small crows' nests ; the nesting 

 hollow o'n the other hand is of small circumference, 

 deep, and neatly lined with dry grass, feathers, wool, 

 etc. I have never found more than three eggs or young 

 in it. The former are thin-shelled, oval, 11-12 lines 

 long, paler or more brightly bluish-green, with isolated 

 blue-grey and violet-brown spots and points." 



Captain Shelley says : " The eggs, generally three in 

 number, but sometimes as many as five, are of a pale 

 greenish blue faintly spotted with rufous or violet-grey, 

 and measure, according to Mr. Kuschel, 1.3 by 0.82 on 

 an average. Three eggs, agreeing with Mr. Kuschel's 

 description, were obtained by Erlanger on May 21, 

 1900, from a nest constructed in the hole of a tree 

 6ft. from the ground, but a single egg he had taken on 

 April 9th differed in being of a uniform glossy bluish- 

 green, and resembled that of our common Starling. Mr. 

 A. L. Butler, in his notes from the Soudan, writes : 

 " These birds are gregarious throughout the year, breed- 

 ing in colonies. On the Setit, in April, they were 

 repairing their old neste, which were bulky structures 

 of sticks placed in the tops of ' heglik ' trees. Several 

 nests were often built together into one great mass" 

 (Shelley, "Birds of Africa," Vol. V., p. 76). 



Herr Wiener says that " the first specimen of this 

 bird was presented to the Zoological Gardens as long 

 ago as 1860, and in 1872 some were bred there. The 

 nest is built in hollow trees or large nest-boxes." Like 

 all the Glossy Starlings, this is a hardy bird; but 

 plenty of insect-food, small worms, and fruit should be 

 given both to this and the allied species in order 

 to keep them in good condition. 



According to Dr. Russ the late Mr. Wiener possessed 

 examples both of L. sycobius and L. chloropterus, so 

 that he appears to have considered them distinct; but 

 I am perfectly satisfied to accept Captain Shelley's 

 decision, which is based upon very extensive experience 

 of African birds, both in the field and in the cabinet. 



NORDMAN'S GLOSSY STABLING 

 (Lamprocolius chalcurus). 



Very like the preceding, from which it is distin- 

 guished by a reddish-violet shade on the tail, best 

 defined towards the basal half of the central feathers; 

 irides orange-yellow. Hab., Senegambia to the district 

 of the Upper White Nile. 



No field notes appear to have been published, ex- 

 cepting that Ussher speaks of it as " tolerably common 

 up the Volta, where it is to be observed in small flocks." 

 As a rule one or two examples seem to be secured by 



collectors, and Captain Shelley concludes that it is 

 apparently rare throughout its range, which, he notes, 

 " is mixed up in that of L. chalybceus in West Africa, 

 which looks as if it may be only a variety " (t.c., p. 77). 

 Russ not only considers L. chalcums distinct, but 

 also separates the synonym L. porphyrurut. Of the 

 first he says that it was in the collections of Prince 

 Ferdinand, Messrs. E. von Schlechtendal, and E. Lin- 

 den, as well as the Berlin Aquarium, where it was bred 

 in 1872. Of L. porphyrurus, which he says is smaller 

 and without blue shoulders and tail, and less orilhantly 

 glossed with purplish- violet, he informs us that it was 

 imported in 1870 by the dealer Gudera, of Vienna. 



RED-SHOULDERED GLOSSY STARLING 

 (Lamprocolius phaenicoptems). 



Glossy golden-green, much bluer on head, neck, body, 

 and tail than on wings; the lower back, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts steel-blue; sides and back of head 

 and neck, tail, and thighs bluish ; inner two-thirds of 

 lesser coverts coppery -bronze varied with lilac and blue ; 

 ends of median and greater coverts with suDterrninal 

 black spots and tipped with steel-green; inner webs of 

 primaries and under surface of flights and tail sooty- 

 black ; under wing-coverts purplish, olue-green 

 towards bend of wing ; bill and feet black ; irides pale 

 to orange-yellow. Female similar, but smaller. 



Far. bispecularis. Smaller, back and wings more 

 steel- green ; irides orange. Hab., Africa southward 

 from Guboon and Matabeleland. 



Respecting the larger race Stark writes {" Birds of 

 South Africa," Vol. L, pp. 38, 39) : " In many districts 

 of Eastern Cape Colony this species of Glossy Starling 

 is very common and well known, being often met with 

 in considerable flocks. It is most numerous in the bush 

 and forest districts, where it finds an abundant supply 

 of small fruits and berries, as well as a variety of seeds 

 and insects. I have frequently seen this Starling catch- 

 ing the winged termites as they issued from the 

 ground. It is a bird of lively habits, frequently taking 

 short flights and returning to its perch, and constantly 

 uttering its loud, mellow notes, varied at intervals witn 

 a short song which depends for its merit a good deal 

 on the individual performer, and is not unlike that of 

 the English Starling. Small parties of these Glossy 

 Starlings are often to be seen sitting on the tops of 

 high trees, their metallic green and copper coloured 

 plumage glistening in the sun, and recognisable at a 

 distance by their bright orange-yellow irides. In spring 

 the winter flocks separate into pairs, which distribute 

 themselves through the bush in search of a convenient 

 hole in which to place their nest. Usually they make 

 use of a natural hole or cavity in a tree-trunk, but some- 

 times take possession of one dug by a Woodpecker after 

 driving away the rightful owners. Not unfrequently 

 they build under the eaves of a barn or house, and Mr. 

 Barratt remarks that on his farm on the Chalumna, 

 British Kaffaria, they "frequented the^ barns and build- 

 ings, continually flying to and fro, like English Star- 

 lings." The nest holes are thickly lined with dry grass, 

 feathers, and hair, on which four or five eggs are laid. 

 These are usually somewhat elongated in shape, of a 

 pale bluish-green" ground colour, sparingly spotted with 

 pale reddish-brown. They average about 1.10 by 0.80." 



Respecting the smaller race, Stark says : " In its 

 habits this race does not differ from the larger L. 

 plueni copter us," therefore I need not repeat other 

 accounts of its nidification. Captain Horsbrugh pre- 

 sented an example to the London Zoological Society in 

 1906. 



