100 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



mens of this Coly in 1884, and the same yea.r Miss 

 HagenJbeek exhibited five examples at the " Ornis " 

 Exhibition in Hamburg. 



BiAJE-NAi'ED COLY (Col hi* macrurus). 

 Much like the preceding, but a good deal paler, and 

 with a tuft of sky-blue feathers on each side of the 

 nape ; upper mandible red, -with base and tip horn- 

 frackiish ; lower mandible black ; feet rosy-crimson, soles 

 "bluish-yellow!"; iris and orbital ring crimson. 

 (Heuglin.) Female not differentiated. Ha,b.. " N.E. 

 Africa, across to Senegambia and Gtalboon." (Sharpe.) 

 According to Von Heuglin, this species " does not 

 wander, and lives in flocks off five-ten individuals. One 

 meets with these 'birds not rarely in the steppes and 

 forest region, preferably in the neighbourhood oil brooks 

 and torrent-beds ; they visit .gardens in numbers, even 

 in the middle of villages and towns. They are of a 

 lively and restless nature, not at all shy, and they affect 

 the tops oif tall trees, such as sycamores, rather than 

 shrubs of raaibag, acacias, etc. The Mouse-bird seeks 

 certain favourite spots almost daily, even when these 

 are far distant from each other. According to B.rebm, 

 its 'food consists chiefly of insects ; we have learnt to 

 recognise him as a robber of grapes, bananas, figs, 

 anones, and 'pomegranates ; he, however, also partakes 

 of date-plums, fruits of the Cordise and Cucurbitacese, 

 and is satisfied with all possible seeds; if these are 

 lacking, he may perhaps also feed upon buds, and even 

 inserts. With astounding dexterity these birds slip 

 through the most impenetrable thorny thickets, and 

 suspend themselves on the brain-hiv. and even on fruit 

 bush-as. If one starts off crying and chipping from itha 

 top oil a tree, the whale flock follows him. The flight is 

 direct, short, fluttering, and gliding, also reima<rkaibly 

 Woodpecker-like in its pauses ; at the same time, tihe 

 long, narrow tail is not expanded, and is usually carried 

 quite horizontally ; during its passage the bird utters 

 an unpleasing, some what flute-like whistle, which may 

 be expressed in writing something like diu-rfla-dlu-flla. 

 We found the nest in the rainy season up to the end 

 of September on pomegranate shrubs and vine -branches 

 in the gardens of Khartoum. It consists of dry grass, 

 tree-fibre, roots and twigs ; is small, flat, and ligihtlv 

 constructed. It contains two to three fairly fine-shelled, 

 mostly bluntly-oval eggs, with a white ground-colour, 

 showing rosv from tramsiWence. and marked witih a 

 few fairly sharply -defined, rust-coloured spots, streaks, 

 and flourishes. Their length measures 8'" 9'". by 

 6-. 1 , " 7'" diameter." (" Ornithologie Nord-Os't 



AfHcas." Vol. I., pp. 713, 714.) 



'Mr. H. F. Wffltherby (The Ibis, 1901. p. 264) s^vs : 

 " Colies of this species were everywhere common. They 

 kept to the thickest trees, and weire always in comipainv, 

 four or five being generally together. When alarmed, 

 these birds hide themselves in the densest ipart of a 

 tree, itlhrougih which they elamlb and oreeip. Arrived at 

 the far side o.f it, they rush out, uttering a piping note, 

 wihiioh demotes but the faintest suggestion of alarm. 

 Much the same note, but softer and more plaintive, and 

 uttered in a less hurried way, forms the call. The flight 

 is fairly straight, and rather iheavy. On April 23rd T 

 s-iw one of these birds collect ing stuff in its bill, as 

 though for building, but no nest- W ns to Ibe found, and 

 the birds seem to have finished breeding, and to 

 family partie-. 



"Adult: Iris red; bill, upper mandible pinkish-red, 

 with (black tip ; lower mandible black ; legs and feet 

 pu v r>le : orbits bare, lake-red." 



On the other hand. Mr. A. E. Pease (I.e., n. 670) 

 snvs : "Iris brown; naked skin round eye dark red; 

 bill red at base, black at the tip ; .legs dull red." He 



also says " it is a stronger bud on the wing than C " . 

 leucotiis. It> would almost seem that the soiit pants in 

 this species must vary locally, like those of the different, 

 races of 'the Passerine Dove ; yet, if so, there must be 

 two types on the Wihite Nile, "for in The Ibis for 1902, 

 p. 428, Mr. R. McD. Hawker says: "Iris hazel; bill 

 red, black at tap ; legs and feet purplish-red," or hawe 

 Messrs. Withe'riby anid Eaivvker different conceptions otf 

 colour ? 



In his paper on the " Ornithology of the Egvptian 

 Soudan" (The Ibis, 1905, p. 356), Mr. A. L. Butler 

 says: "The Blue-naped Coly is common and evenly 

 distributed along both the White and Blue Niles, but 

 does not seem to range much further north than Khar- 

 toum. In the gardens of that town it ie often seen, 

 especially when the dates, to which it is very partial, 

 are ripe, and it breeds in the lime-trees in the early 

 spring. Except in the nesting season, it is always met 

 with iii flecks of from ten to twenty individuals. These 

 parties feed in the closest company, and the birds all 

 take flight from a tree simultaneously. Their flight is 

 straight and rapid, and on the wing they utter a shrill 

 little trilling whistle. 



" In captivity these Colies become very tame, and 

 thrive well on a diet of dates and figs." 



Mr. F. J. Jackson, " On Birds Collected during a 

 Journey to the Ruwenzori Range " (The Ibis, 1906, 

 p. 522), gives a slightly different description of the soft 

 parts: "Iris crimson; bill coral, tip and lower man- 

 dible black ; bare patch round eye plum-coloured ; feet 

 heliotrope-coloured." He says : "We found the nest 

 of this bird. It was built on the top> of the old nest 

 of a Weaver-Finch. The eggs were four in number." 



In a later paper by Mr. A. L. Butler (The Ibis, 1908, 

 pp. 243-244) we read: "On October 13th. 1905. ami 

 for a few days afterwards, I saw a pied example of this 

 Coly, with "the back, wings, and tail mostly white, 

 among a flock in Khartoum. Blue-naped Colies were 

 plentiful in the gardens at Stiakin in April, 1906. 

 They were constantly met with along our line of march, 

 in the Bahr-el-G-hazal Province. These Colies are at 

 present quite abundant in Khartoum, their numbers 

 having greatly increased with the growth of trees and 

 gardens. 



" In captivity they are most charming birds. Their 

 attitudes are extraordinary, and they often suspend 

 themselves under their perches like Loriculi. always 

 crowding together into as compact a bunch as possible. 

 One characteristic position is to let themselves dmvu 

 behind the twig on which they are perched until only 

 their bills and eyes appear over the top of it. A row 

 of them will maintain this position for an hour at a 

 time, looking precisely as if they were drawing them- 

 selves up to the chin on a horizontal bar." 



This charming Coly has hitherto reached the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens of Amsterdam and Copenhagen ; it 

 would probably be one of the easiest to import, and will 

 doubtless, ere very long, be tolerably familiar to 

 aviculturists. 



CHESTNUT-BACKED COLY (Colin s castanonotus) . 



Above deep chestnut or chocolate-brown ; inner secon- 

 daries slightly washed with grey ; lower back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts distinctly redder; tail washed, 

 with grey-green ; forehead broadly black with white 

 dots ; Feathers below eye, front of cheeks and chin black, 

 with white dots: ear-coverte, bark of cheeks and throat 

 pinkish ash: under surface generally pale buff, deeper 

 on under tail-coverts ; edge of wing ashy ; lining of 

 nights chestnut : feet pale led. Female apparently 

 larger, with longer tail, and more arched maxilla. 

 Hab., Gaboon to Angola. 



