COLIES. 



105 



BLACK-NECKED COLY (Colius nigricollis). 



Differs from the preceding species in having a white 

 mark at the base of the culmen ; the forehead and throat 

 Hack and the feet pale yellowish. Hab., Congo Region, 

 extending into the Niam-Niam country. (Sharpe.) _ 



I have found no account of the wild life of typical 

 C. nigricollis, ,but of its race, C. nigriscapalis, Mr. 

 G. L. Bates, speaking of the breeding seasons of birds 

 in Southern Kamerun, observes (The Ibis, 1908, p. 

 564) : " Many nests of Colius nigriscapalis with eggs 

 or young were found, 'besides the birds killed, of which 

 the breeding organs were examined. The greater 

 number of the nests with eggs, and also of the breeding 

 birds, were obtained in the two rainy seasons ; and the 

 greatest number of all in the rainiest time, October and 

 November. Yet not all were found at those times : 

 breeding -birds were killed in December and in 

 "February, and a nestling was found in August all dry 

 months." 



In 1882 Miss Hatrenbeck sent a specimen of this 

 species to the late Dr. Russ for identification, and in 

 1887 an example reached the London Zoological 

 Gardens. 



WHITE-EARED COLY (Colius leucotis). 



Differs from C. striatus in its ashy-white ear-coverts 

 and hind cheeks ; the back of neck and mantle broadly 

 barred with dusky brown ; upper mandible black, with 

 ibluish white culmen ; lower mandible fleshy whitish, 

 blackish at base ; feet bright vermilion with the soles 

 tinged with ,grey ; irides pearl-white ; naked orbital 

 region bluish. Female not differentiated. Hab., 

 ""Abyssinia and Bogos-land, south to Shoa." (Sharpe.) 



Von Heuglin (" Ornithologie Nord-Ost Africas," 

 Vol. I., p. 711) says: " As concerns its manner of life, 

 it herein resembles much the Senegal Mouse-bird, but 

 confines itself even more than the latter to the densest 

 .scrub of thorn-trees and vines, and to the forest region, 

 than to large trees and human settlements. Its vertical 

 distribution lies between 1,000 and 11,000 feet above 

 sea-level. The closely crowded families rove from bush 

 to bush, especially along the banks of torrents and 

 waterfalls, and wherever by any possibility in matted 

 thickets, where the birds have no need to wander far. 

 Also they are fond of frequenting old brickwork and 

 rubbish heaps, where their favourite food, the Srhebti- 

 plant (Phitolacca habessinica, the Amhuran Endot), 

 grows ; at other times these creatures feed upon fruits 

 of Leguminosse, Capparis, Zizyphus, Cordia ; we also 

 saw them upon sycamore, cucurbitacere and cissus- 

 berries. Their plumage is very rough and dry, so that 

 during showers it absorbs much water and renders the 

 birds incapable of flight. At the time when figs are 

 ripe the face and throat are often quite covered with 

 the clogged juice of these fruits." 



Dr. S. L. Hinde (The Ibis, 1898, p. 583) says that 

 this species is " common in flocks all over the country 

 from Mombasa to Kikuyu, except in the middle of the 

 bare plains." 



Mr. Alfred E. Pease says (The Ibis, 1901, p. 670) : 

 " The White-eared Goly was very common and invari- 

 ably to be seen in large companies of individuals flying 

 one after another from bush to bush, the last leaving 

 with apparent reluctance." This was in Southern 

 Abyssinia. 



Mr. A. L. Butler (The Ibis, 1905, p. 356) observes : 

 "" Widely distributed. I have shot it on the Setit River, 

 on the Bahr-el-Ghazal, and at intermediate points on 

 the Blue and White Niles. I do not remember to have 



seen it frequenting gardens and date-palm groves like 

 the blue-naped species." 



Four examples. of this bird reached the Berlin Zoo- 

 logical Gardens in 1895, and the keeper, Meusel, sent 

 Dr. Russ some interesting notes respecting their 

 behaviour in captivity ; these who wish to read them 

 should refer to Vol. II. of his " Fremdlandischen Stuben- 

 vogel," pp. 632, 633. 



RED-CHEEKED COLY (Colius erythromelon}. 



Above olivaceous grey, washed with buff on back and 

 rump ; wings rather greener ; tail green with dusky 

 inner webs and black shafts ; crest of head slightly 

 huffish, forehead reddish buff ; ear-coverts and cheeks 

 green, the latter huffish in front ; throat and under 

 surface sandy buff, sides of body olivaceous grey ; flanks 

 and under tail-coverts green ; under wing-coverts red- 

 dish buff, the quill-lining chestnut ; bill black at tip, 

 crimson at base ; feet rose-red ; irides pale grey ; orbital 

 naked skin crimson. Female smaller, with the colour- 

 ing -slightly paler and the beak smaller. Haib., South 

 Africa, to Angola on the west, and the Zambesi and 

 Mozambique on the east. (Sharpe.) 



Messrs. Sitairk and iScloter ("Birds of South Africa." 

 Vol. III., p. 100) remark that "the Red -faced Mouse- 

 b:rd does not differ from the other Mouse -(birds in 

 habits. lit is gregarious in flocks olf from six to twelve 

 individuals ; it feeds on berries and fruits ; its flight 

 is iraipid, straiglhit, and short, and it cilimlbs and crawls 

 about amid thick ibush ; it cry is shrill, and somewhat 

 resemibles its native Zulu name, according to the Wood- 

 wards. The latter authors also describe a nest found 

 in the fork of .a thorn tree near the Umihlatusi River, in 

 Zululand. It was composed of wild coitlton in seed, an 

 inch thick, on a platform of thorny twigs. The eggs, 

 three in nuonfber, were white, freckled and streaked witlh 

 red. 



" HoCub found that this bird did well in captivity in a 

 large oa,ge along 'witih other (birds, and fed 'best on 

 oranges." 



IM,r. B. Alexander (The Ibis, 19CO, pp. 105, 106) says : 

 " By no means common, and first observed on Novem- 

 ber 10 near Chiicoiwa. In habits they resemble C. 

 striatus, travelling about an small parties, and keeping 

 chiefly ito tJhe thickest portions of well-leaved trees, 

 away from the heat, which they seem to feel very 

 much, 'becoming active on'ly in the early morning and 

 evening. The cry, generally uttered on the wing and 

 when in flock, is a series oif notes rapidly repeated, and 

 in sound far -Teaching and mellow." " This bird has a 

 strong and straight flight, and it seldom, if ever, 

 alights on the ground." 



Mr. R. H. Joy (The Ibis, 1901, p. 24), speaking of 

 the Cuckoo, Coccystes serratus, cibserves : " In Decem- 

 ber, 1897, I saw one of these birds leave the nest of a 

 Go'.y (Colius erythromelon). The nest contained three 

 eggs of the host (white, with a few pink scraitcibes), 

 together with one egg of the Cuckoo (pure white)." 



Messrs. Seimund and Grant (The Ibis, 1904, p. 27) 

 say tihat an old male which they obtained had the soft 

 parts coloured as tallows : "Iris yellow; iba.re skin 

 round the eye and lores carmine ; base of bill and feet 

 crimson ; tip of both mamdiiibles black." A voung male 

 had the " irie ' hazel,' the bare skin round the eye and 

 lores yellow, with a slight tinge of red ; gape yellow ; 

 base of bill greenish, the tip bluish slate-coloured ; feet 

 dull crimson. 



" This we called the Mountain Ooly, as it kept closely 

 to the kopjes, occasionally visiting the or<cha,rds to feed 

 on figs." 



The London Zoological Society acquired two speci- 



