270



Dr. Hopkinson,



Some males have brown edges to nearly all the purple feathers ;

this one finds chiefly in birds shot during the dry season. These

may be young birds, or, on the other hand, there may be an

annual change of plumage, the full breeding dress being only

attained in the rains (the nesting season) by the loss of these

brown edges. Both my birds were caught just before the com¬

mencement of the rains, and neither of them had a sign of brown

edging. The female is very different from the male; above

brown, mottled, most of the feathers having lighter edges ; wings

and tail darker; below she is whitish with an indistinct rufous

band across the chest. The young in their first year resemble

the female. The irides are bright yellow in the male, a paler

yellow in the female. Length about 6 \ inches, that is rather

larger than a Nightingale. Bill and feet black in both sexes.


The range of the species extends throughout West Africa ;

in the Gambia they are not uncommon, chiefly within about 50

miles of the coast, where the country is largely forest or covered

with thicker “bush” than further inland. A few are resident all

the year round, but their numbers are much increased in May by

a large influx from other parts, especially from the southward,

mostly paired by the time of their arrival and evidently coming

to breed with us during the rains, though I have never yet had

the luck to find any nest. I expect, however, that they breed in

holes in the larger trees, for when travelling in the forests at this

season or in the two following months one meets with about

equal numbers of these Starlings and Golden Orioles (O. auratus )

flying about the higher branches of the African Mahoganies and

other similar trees. The Orioles are common in the Gambia all

the year round, but increase in numbers before the rains and

mostly move to the thicker “ bush ” or forest country for the

breeding season, nesting in the higher branches of such trees.

Near Bathurst, the chief town and headquarters of the Gambia,

situated on a swamp-bordered sandy island at the mouth of the

river, the Amethyst Starlings are not uncommon in the thickets

which border the causeway running to the mainland through the

swamp which extends behind the sand-barrier of the seashore.

They are generally seen in pairs, the male usually leaving cover

first, to be followed a few moments later by his plainly attired



