38 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



Female similar, but smaller. Hab., Eastern Africa 

 and the Lake district from about 6 deg. S. lat. to 

 9 deg. N. lat. (Shelley.) 



I quote the following field notes from Shelley's 

 "Birds of Africa," Vol. V., pp. 57-59: "Mr. Jackson 

 found the species in the Suk country, and writes : 

 'Plentiful in small flocks; song very sweet.' At 

 Elgeyu, in the middle of August, they were ' very 

 plentiful ; breeding. They make a shallow nest of 

 sticks, mostly thorny, very rough.' He also met with 

 them at Kinani, and on the Samia Hills in Kavirondo, 

 in parties of three to five individuals." "The egg, 

 according to Mr. Nehrkorn, is uniform.' sky-blue, and 

 measures 1.14 by 0.84." 



" Heuglin met with the species in Sennar and Kor- 

 dofan, and records it as plentiful in the mountains of 

 Northern Abyssinia up to 6,000 feet, living in small 

 parties, mostly frequenting the higher trees and occa- 

 sionally the pasture lands, and he not unfrequently 

 saw them perched on carcases, probably searching for 

 maggots, for, like the Starlings generally, their food 

 consists of all kinds of fruit and insects. They breed 

 in July and August, and construct a large nest in 

 some tall tree. The eggs are compared by Heuglin 

 to those of our Blackbird." 



"Mr. Witherby writes (The Ibis, 1901, p. 249): 

 ' These birds were plentiful as far as we went south of 

 Duem. but we did not observe them more than ten 

 miles north of that place. Their song is sweet, but 

 they have a perpetual and irritating call-note which 

 is decidedly harsh. We found them in small companies, 

 generally frequenting the tops of the trees ; they were 

 very tame.' " 



Russ says : " This Glossy Starling with us is exces- 

 sively rare in the market and its price stands at from 

 45 to 60 marks. It was present in the Berlin Zoo- 

 logical Gardens and the Berlin Aquarium." 



MEVES' LONG-TAILED GLOSSY STARLING. 

 (Lamprotornis mevesi). 



Much smaller than L. caudatiis, the lower back and 

 rump more glossed with reddish-violet ; head and throat 

 steel-blue with a purple gloss ; scapulars and wing- 

 coverts without subterminal black spots ; bill and feet 

 black ; irides brown. Female with the first half of 

 crown and the throat more green than blue ; back of 

 crown with a slight violet shade ; lower back and 

 breast more lilac with scarcely a tinge of copper. 

 (Shelley.) Hab., Southern Tropical Africa, from Mossa- 

 medes to Damaraland on the west, and Limpopo to 

 Nyassaland on the east ; represented in Benguela by 

 a subspecies, L. purpureus Bocage (benguelensis, 

 Shelley). Shelley says he was obliged to rename L. 

 purpureus because he can find no character by which 

 to distinguish Lamprotornis and Lamprocolius ; there 

 is at least the long tail of the former, which, if not 

 a very important character, conveniently serves to dis- 

 tinguish them. 



I quote the following short account of the habits 

 from Shelley's "Birds of Africa," Vol V., p. 61: 

 " From the Zambesi Mr. Boyd Alexander writes : ' Found 

 in small parties on the low ground overgrown with 

 brushwood, skirting the hills. By the middle of October 

 these parties had split Tip into pairs and were then 

 about the only birds to be seen during the heat of the 

 day in the mealie-fields, preying upon insects. The 

 alarm note is a harsh screech. I take the following 

 observation from my note-book: "While I write, 

 three Long-tailed Starlings are sporting themselves 



on the bare, dried-up ground close to my tent, busy 

 picking up small grasshoppers. Their behaviour and 

 gait remind me of our Blackbird first a violent rush 

 forward, then a sudden dip of the head to pick up 

 some morsel, and then on again, the whole time their 

 tail being jerked up and down." ' ' 



According to Russ the typical form has once been 

 exhibited in the Amsterdam Zoological Gardens, and 

 the subspecies has formed part of the collections of 

 Messrs. Wiener and Linden. 



WEDGE-TAILED GLOSSY STARLING 

 (Heteropsar acuticaudus). 



Glossy green; the rump and upper tail-coverts with 

 slight blue reflections ; inner lesser and median coverts 

 coppery-red becoming bluish at the edges ; median and 

 greater coverts with subterminal black spots ; flights 

 blackish glossed with green or blue externally; tail 

 greenish-blue ; lores black ; ear-coverts deep steel-blue ; 

 sides, flanks, and thighs, steel-blue ; under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries blackish with steel-blue edges ; edge of 

 wing greener ; flights below blackish, browner along 

 inner edges; bill and feet black; hides orange-yellow. 

 Female smaller. Hab., Angola to Ovampoland. 



Beyond the fact that it feeds principally upon fruit 

 and is known at Luilla as " Eiabairo," at Galanga as 

 " Jabairo," and on the Lehe River as "Mucombe," 

 nothing appears to be recorded respecting it in a state 

 of freedom. 



Russ says : " Many years ago this species was repre- 

 sented in the Berlin Aquarium." 



BEAUTIFUL SPREO (Spreo pulcher). 



Above glossv green, bluer on the tail ; flights 

 blackish, metallic green externally ; inner webs of pri- 

 maries mostly creamy white ; head all round bronzy- 

 brown; lores black; throat and fore-breast glossy 

 green ; remainder of under surface cinnamon ; edge of 

 wing below green ; flights below dusky brown at tips, 

 otherwise creamy white ; bill and feet blackish ; irides 

 pale yellow. Female rather smaller. Hab., N.E. 

 Africa, extending to the Niger district and Senegambia. 

 (Sharpe.) 



According to Heuglin, this is the most abundant of 

 the Glossy Starlings. " It inhabits the open country 

 below 600ft., where it is to be seen in small flocks. 

 It breeds in September and October, when scarcely a 

 bush, on some of the plateaux, is without a nest of 

 this Starling. The nest is large, constructed externally 

 of twigs, lined with straw and soft materials, and con- 

 tains three or four eggs, which are clear greenish blue, 

 with violet or brownish red spots, largest and most 

 numerous towards the thick end, and measure about 1.05 

 by 0.72." 



"" Mr. Witherby {The Ibis, 1901. p. 249) met with the 

 species some fifty miles south of Khartoum and remarks 

 that it is shy and artful, keeping one of the party on 

 watch from a topmost bough. 'Just as you arrive 

 within gunshot the sentinel gives a warning whistle, so 

 shrill that it sounds almost like a squeak, at which 

 all the flock take a short, straight flight to another 

 tree. When feeding on the ground this species is more 

 easily approached, and its gait and action are similar 

 to those of our Starlings.' " (Shelley, " Birds of Africa," 

 Vol. V., pp. 94, 95.) 



Russ observes that it is extremely rare in the German 

 market. The collections of the Paris and London 

 Zoological Gardens have possessed it. 



