1905.] MAMMALS AND BIRDS OF LIBERIA. 203 



destroy birds and beasts avound them. They are, on the other 

 hand, rather kindly disposed towards these creatures. In the 

 interior the indigenous natives have an extraordinary craving for 

 meat, which they satisfy partly by cannibalism, but also by 

 devouring even the skin of the creatures that they snare or shoot. 

 On the lower part of the St. Paul's Kiver, I have sometimes seen 

 only one bird in the course of a whole day, and that is the veiy 

 common Angola Vulture. As soon as you get into the foi'est the 

 beautiful Blue Plantain- eaters {Corythceola cristata) become 

 fairly common, and enliven the woods with their sti-ange cries. 

 Although this bird is so abundant in Liberia, very little seems to 

 be known by the natives regarding its nesting-habits. I have 

 received the young of Taracus and Gallirex fi'om the nest in 

 other parts of Africa, when the nestlings were at most four days 

 old, and I have noticed that they were fairly well covered, except 

 on the head, with long, fleecy, purplish-grey down. It would be 

 vei-y interesting to ascertain the condition of the young in 

 Corythceola, as to whether they ai-e born absolutely naked or 

 partially covered with down. It is interesting to note that this 

 bii-d alone amongst the family of the Turacos oflf'ei-s a marked 

 difference in size and coloration between the male and the female. 

 The male of Corythceola is at least a fourth larger than the 

 female, and the coloration is much brighter and the crest lai-gei'. 

 In the other members of this family there is apparently little oi- 

 no difference in size or coloration between the male and female. 

 The fine examples of Corythceola which have been collected by 

 Mr. Harold Reynolds in Liberia only differ from those I have 

 obtained in the western parts of Uganda by the blue in the male 

 being slightly more ultramarine than the blue verditer of the 

 Uganda specimens. Young specimens in their first year are much 

 paler and greyer than the adults. I believe the specimens which 

 I sent back from Uganda will establish this point. The Violaceous 

 Plantain- eater is found in Liberia, though it is very scarce. I saw 

 a specimen twenty-two miles inland from Monrovia, at the house of 

 a German planter. The Turacos of Liberia seem to be Turacus 

 persa and Turacths ')nacrorhynchus. T. riiojcyrorhynchus is the 

 common form in Liberia. The only two Guinea-fowls appear to 

 be the I'are White-necked {Agelastes meleagricles), and the Crested 

 (Guttercc cristcota). The Agelastes is rather a small bird, with an 

 absolutely bare red head in the male. The female or the young- 

 bird has short brownish feathers on the head, and the breast 

 and neck seem to be only patched with white, and not whoU}' 

 of that colour. The Francolins as yet recorded are Frccncolimts 

 ahantenis (which is usually miscalled the Guinea-fowl by the 

 Americo-Liberians) and Francolinus lathcimi. I saw no true 

 Vultures anywhere in Liberia, the scavenging being done chiefly 

 by the black and white Scapulated Crows. As already mentioned , 

 the so-called Fishing- Vulture, Gypohierax angolensis, is common. 

 Vultures always seem to shun the thickly forested regions of 

 Africa, the only member of the group which in any way enters 

 the forest-region being the Necrosyrtes monacus. But although 



