on birds of the Gambia.



151



both pied birds, which are found in large flocks, with which the two

Gambian Sparrows are fond of associating.


Our commonest Waxbills are Firefinches, Cordonbleus, Zebra,

and Orange-cheeked Waxbills, which form the larger part of the

collections in the bird-catchers’ cages, which are exported in such

large numbers from the neighbouring French port of Dakar in

Senegal. Rarer members of this family are the “ Aurora Finches,”

the Yinaceous Waxbill, the Quail Finch, and the Spotted Firefinch,

all most desirable cage-birds, but, fortunately from their point of

view, either not numerous anywhere or very local in the habitat; at

any rate, not so easy to catch as their better-known relations.


Although the Gambia has been so long a British colony, no

book on its birds has yet appeared, if we except Swainson’s :: ‘ Birds

of Western Africa’ (1843), which dealt with birds (skins) received

(one gathers from the introduction) mainly from the Gambia, as the

chief outlet of Senegal produce. More recently a list of Gambian

birds was given in the Appendix to Moloney’s ‘ Forestry of West

Africa f (1887), and in the ‘ Ibis ’ two papers on this subject have

appeared (Rendall, 1892, p. 218, and Budgett, 1901, p. 481), while the

writer of this article contributed (1909 omvards) to ‘ Bird Notes,’ the

Journal of the Foreign Bird Club, a series of notes on Gambia’s birds,

of which the material above-mentioned formed the basis, reinforced

by his own observations during a number of years’ service in the

Protectorate and the information provided by other works dealing

with the Ornithology of Africa generally. The same hand was also

responsible for the chapter on birds in Reeve’s book on the Gambia


(1912)4



* ‘ Birds of Western Africa.’ By W r . Swainson, Esq. Two vols. Jardine’s

Naturalist’s Library. Edinburgh, 1843.


f ‘Sketch of the Forestry of West Africa.’ By Alfred Moloney, C.M.G.

London, 1887. ‘List of the Birds of the Gambia.’ By Captain G. E. Shelley.

Pp. 464-483.


I ‘ The Gambia.’ By Henry Fenwick Reeve, C.M.G. London, 1912,

Chapter on Birds, Part III, pp. 216-233.



