274



Dr. A. G. Butler,



although constant in certain families, is very inconstant in others ;

not only is it inconstant in the same family, but in the same

genus, species, and even in the same clutch, and in the various

families of Starlings (which link the two large Fincli-families to

the Crows) inconstancy may well be expected.


According to Captain Shelley Pholidauges leucogaster in¬

habits Tropical Africa from 17 0 N. lat. to Gaboon, on the west,

and to the "Equator in Central and Eastern Africa ; he tells us

that, “ in Liberia, Mr. Biittikofer met with it most frequently in

the open country, the females and young birds perching together

on the bushes while the full-plumage males kept by themselves

at some little distance.”


The female differs greatly in colouring from the male;:

being brown, with pale margins to the feathers; the inner webs

of the flights mostly suffused with pale cinnamon ; the cheeks

white, streaked with brown ; the under surface white, slightly

sandy on the throat, at the back of which and on the breast are

dark brown triangular spots, becoming rounder towards the back

of the breast and at the sides of the vent, and longer at the sides

of the abdomen which are brownish ; under wing-coverts and

axillaries brown with rufescent edges and the flights below

rufescent on inner webs.


Shelley says (Birds of Africa, vol. V., pp. 39, 40) ; “ During

my visit to the Gold Coast I met with the species on a few

occasions in February, between Accra and Abokobi, always in

fairly large flocks of about a score.” Ussher writes : “This bird

is widely distributed over the whole of the Guinea Coast, and is

of very general occurrence 011 the Gold Coast. It is usually

observed in pairs, and occasionally in some numbers. I have

seen the low bushes in the vicinity of the town of Lagos (on the

Slave Coast) tenanted by them in large quantities, the brilliant

plumage of the male contrasting markedly with the sober colour¬

ing of the female and the pied tints of the immature birds. They

were feeding eagerly on the berries of a description of ‘ wait-a-

bit’ thorn, very abundant in some localities of the Guinea Coast.

The male in full plumage, seen flying low in the bright sunlight,

is undoubtedly one of the most exquisite birds in Africa, and a

marked difference of colour is observable among even full-



