150 



RED-BILLED PROMEROPS. 



Promerops erythrorynchos. P. niger purpureo viridique nitens, 



rostro pcdibtisnue rubris, cauda loiiga, rcctricibus versus apices 



albo maculatis. 

 Black Promerops, with green and purple gloss, red bill and legs, 



and long tail with the feathers spotted with white near the tip. 

 Upupa erythrorynchos. U. viridi-atra, abdomine atro, cauda cu- 



neiformi, remigibus sex primoribus rectricibusque lateralibus albo 



maculatis. Lath. ind. orn. 

 Upupa erythrorynchos. U. uigro-violdcca, viridi nitens, rectricibus 



versus apices macula utrinque alba f rostro rubro. Citnel. Phys. 



t.52. Nat. Misc. I3.pl. 533. 

 Red-billed Promerops. l.uth. syn. suppl. 

 Promerops a bee rouge. Viell. et And. Prorn.pl. 6. 



THIS highly elegant species is an inhabitant of 

 Africa, and seems to have been first described by 

 Dr. Latham from a specimen in the collection of 

 the Duchess of Portland. Its size is that of a 

 Hoopoe, and its length about fifteen inches : its 

 colour is black, with varying glosses of red, violet, 

 and golden green : the red cast predominates on 

 the head, the golden green on the wing-covert^ 

 and the violet on the back and tail: the latter 'is 

 very long, and of a strongly cuneated shape, the 

 shortest or outside feathers measuring about three 

 inches in length, and the rest gradually lengthen- 

 ing to the two middlemost, which measure about 

 eight inches : all the tail-feathers, except the two 

 middle ones, are marked near the tip by an oval 

 white spot on each side the web : the six first quill- 

 feathers of the wings have also a white spot on 



