28 STUENID^E AMYDBUS 



one occasion I noticed a pair devour the callow young of a Cape 

 Sparrow notwithstanding a sturdy defence by the parent birds. On 

 the coast the Eed-wing frequents the beach and searches the sea- 

 weed for sandhoppers and small molluscs ; berries of various kinds 

 are habitually eaten, especially those of the syringa-tree, on which 

 they sometimes gorge themselves until they are no longer capable 

 of flight, or perhaps are affected by some narcotic property of the 

 berry itself. 



These Starlings build their nests of small sticks, straws and 

 various soft materials, in the holes and crevices of rocks and 

 krantzes, sometimes among the rocks on the beach just out of 

 reach of the waves, occasionally under the roofs of houses. The 

 eggs, four or five in number, are bluish-green, somewhat sparingly 

 marked, chiefly at the larger end, with spots of reddish-brown. 

 They average 1-45 x 0-95. 



8. Amydrus caffer. Pale-winged Starling. 



Coracias caffra, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 159 (1766). 



Le Nabouroup, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. ii, p. 168, pi. 91 (1800). 



Juida fulvipennis (Sund.) Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 173 (1867). 



Amydrus caffer, Gurney in Anderssorts B. Damara Land, p. 162 (1872); 



Sharpe, ed Layard' s B. S. Afr. pp, 430, 846 (1884) ; Shelley, B. Afr. 



i, p. 44 (1896). 

 Pyrrhocheira caffer, Sharpe, Cat. B, M. xiii, p. 169 (1890). 



Description. Adult male. The entire body, above and below, 

 also the scapulars and lesser and middle wing-coverts, blue-black 

 glossed with purple; head and throat rather greener; greater 

 coverts, primary coverts, bastard wing and secondaries black, bronzed 

 with purple and green ; primaries buff- white at the base for three- 

 fourths their length, black at the ends, the outer ones with the outer 

 webs chestnut ; tail black with greenish reflections. 



Iris orange-red ; bill and feet black. 



Length 10-00; wing5'40; tail 4-60; tarsus 1-15 ; culmen 0-90. 



Adult female. Resembles the male in plumage. 



Distribution. South-western Africa : on the west coast in Little 

 and Great Namaqua and Damara Lands, extending into Mossamedes, 

 where it is abundant near the coast according to Anchieta. In Cape 

 Colony it is not found near Cape Town, but occurs in the Prince 

 Albert division at Aasvogelberg, is abundant at Nel's Poort and 



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