191 



SPLENDID CREEPER. 



Certhia splendida. C. aureo-viridi-chalybea, alls caudaque nigris, 



fascia pectorali rubra, pen/us uropygiijibroso-elongatis. 

 Steel-blue and gold-green Creeper, with black wings and tail, red 



pectoral bar, and fibrose-elongated uropygial plumes. 

 Certhia lotenia. ? C. cacruka, fascia pectorali rubro-aurca, loris 



atris. Lin. Syst. Nat. 



Le Soui-manga a plumes soyeuses. Viell. Certk. t. 82. 

 L'Eclatant. Viell. Ctrtk. t. 2. 

 African Creeper. Far. C. Lath, suppl. 



THE length of this highly beautiful species is 

 rather more than five inches : the bill and legs are 

 black: the head and throat deep violet-blue, with 

 a gloss of gold on the crown : upper part of the 

 neck, back, wing-coverts, and tail-coverts of a 

 deep but very brilliant golden green j the feathers 

 of a fibrous nature, and the tail-coverts in particular 

 stretching to a greater extent over the tail than in 

 most other species : across the middle of the breast 

 runs a bright-red bar, beyond which the abdomen 

 and thighs are of the same deep violet-blue colour 

 as the breast : the wings and tail are black. Native 

 of Africa. 



This species is considerably allied to the Certhia 

 Afra of Linnaeus, of which it is even considered as 

 a variety by Dr. Latham. 



