

its colouring very nearly approaches C. osiris of Abyssinia and the better-known C. hifasciatus 

 of West Africa. The steel-blue colour of the upper tail-coverts is, perhaps, the next most 

 prominent feature in the present species. 



Von Heuglin first discovered this bird near the Bahr-el-Abiad ; and, according to that gentle- 

 man, it is distributed throughout the Upper-White-Nile district, southward from 8° N. lat., and 

 is not uncommon in the lowlands about the Gazelle River. It frequents the high trees in damp 

 localities, and is especially fond of the beautiful flowers of the Kigelia africana. In winter he 

 met with it at Bongo ; and in March, he informs us, the males begin to assume their breeding- 

 plumage. 



Signor Antinori also collected a specimen in the same locality in 8° N. lat., which we pre- 

 sume to be about its most northern limit ; yet too little is known of this species for us to define 

 its range, especially as it has been recorded from the Mosambique district by Bianconi upon the 

 authority of a specimen collected by Signor Fornasini. 



This species has been called erythrocercus ; but this is evidently due to a misprint in the 

 original description, as the bird is not red-tailed, but is red-breasted (Krjp, the heart); and Heuglin, 

 who intended to write erythroceria, meaning " red round the region of the heart," took the first 

 opportunity to correct the misprint. 



The specimen here figured and described is from Mr. Sharpe's collection, now added to our 

 national Museum. The lower figure in the illustration represents this bird in company with 

 C. osiris, its nearest allied form. 



