Liberia *- 



naked. The general colour of the bird is a coppery green, 

 rather dull, with cream-coloured centres to the feathers on 

 the breast and belly. 



There is apparently only one Stork Dissura episcopus a 

 very common bird throughout Africa and Southern Asia. It is 

 metallic black above and white on the belly. The top of the 

 head is black, and the rest of the head and neck is sparsely 

 covered with fleecy white feathers. The bill is black except the 

 ridge and tip of the upper mandible, which are red. The feet 

 and legs are also black in the Liberian type, not orange-red 

 as in the more eastern forms. The beautifully coloured Saddle- 

 billed stork 1 ought to be found on the rivers of this country, 

 and probably is present here. The natives seem to know of 

 it, but no specimen has as yet been secured for identification. 



But if storks are scarce in this forested country, herons are 

 abundant. I give an illustration here of the beautiful White 

 heron (Ardea alba), widespread in its distribution through 

 Southern Europe, Tropical Africa and Asia, with closely allied 

 forms in America and Australia. But this beautiful big white 

 bird is particularly common along the West African coast from 

 Liberia to the Cameroons. It has seemed to me most abundant 

 in the rivers of -the Niger Delta and at Old Calabar, but it was 

 amongst the few birds that I observed on the Liberian waterways, 

 especially in my visit to that country in 1888. There are 

 other species and genera of white herons in Tropical Africa 

 smaller than Ardea alba, which may generally be seen in 

 flocks. When they go to roost on riverside trees they make 

 a beautiful spectacle ; but the great white heron seems to be 

 more solitary in its habits, and is generally seen alone or in 

 couples, making a most striking object against the background 

 of dark green riverside forest. Like the other white herons, 



1 Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis. 



768 



