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Dr. Hopkinson — Shrikes as Cage-birds



Shrike, Tschagra senegala, and the Pufeback-Shrike, Dryoscopus

cubla, I presume.


Of the first, I think there are four examples all in good condition,

while one is in almost perfect fettle, a wonderful tribute to their

importer’s care, as, indeed, are all the birds he brought with them,

both hard- and soft-billed. For general good condition and looks the

Robin-Chats and some rare Bulbuls would take a lot of beating, while

a cageful of Dufresne’s Waxbills absolutely took my breath away for

good looks, although apparently still in the cage in which they travelled.

I have brought home a good many Waxbills in my time, and am quite

satisfied usually with the condition in which they arrive, but I have,

I am sure, never bettered this lot.


The Senegal Shrikes are particularly interesting to me, for I know

them well in Gambia, where they are very common, and known as the

“ Ndoio Above the colour is a rich red brown, below pale buff. The

crown is black, the eyebrow pale fawn, and there is a black streak below

the eye, giving the head a striped appearance. The tail is black with

white spots near the ends of the feathers, which are most conspicuous

when the bird flies. With us they are birds of the more open country,

where they spend much of their time on the ground among low scrub, in

which they skulk and manage in a wonderful way to hide their rather

conspicuous plumage. Vfhen obliged to fly they still keep low down or

perhaps more often take long flying hops along the ground to another

patch of shelter. They are always found in pairs, and when one leaves

a bush it is almost immediately followed by its mate. It is a beautiful

singer (probably the best we have in Gambia), and is heard mostly during

and just after the rains, and then most frequently and at its best in the

early mornings and late evenings. The song consists of a long strain of

sweet flutey notes, very distinctive when heard, but difficult to remember

or whistle. The Mandingos say that this bird is so proud of and so

wrapped up in the beauty of its voice that it shuts its eyes when singing

in order to listen better to its own notes, and then becomes so absorbed

in the performance that it can be easily caught in the hand. Needless

to say, I have never done or seen this done, but really I rather hesitate

to disbelieve it, for besides realizing now that there are many things in

Africa one cannot merely dismiss with scoffing, I saw one of the



