160 BIRDS OF DAMARA LAND. 



species as having come under his personal notice ; but Mr. R. B. 

 Sharpe possesses three specimens obtained by Mr. Andersson at 

 Ovaquenyama in the months of June and July 1867. — Ed.J 



194. LamprOCOliuS phcenicopterUS (Linn.). Nabirop Glossy 

 starling. 



Le Nabirop, Levaillant's Ois. d'Afr. pi. 89. 



Sj)}-eo bispeadarix, Strickland & Sclater, Birds Damar., Contr. Ora. 



1852, p. 149. 

 Lamprocolius phcenicopterus, Andersson, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, 



p. 7. 

 Jmda pluemeaptera, Layard's Cat. No. 339. 

 Juida aurata, id. ibid. No. 337. 

 lamprocolius ph(jmicopteru», Sbarpe's Cat. No. 528. 



This bird is found most abundantly throughout 

 Damara and Great Namaqua Land, in the valleys of the 

 Okavango and of the Teoughe, and in the Lake-regions. 

 Like our European Starling, which it very much resembles 

 in manners and habits, it frequently congregates in large 

 flocks ; it is comparatively tame and easy to approach, 

 and is often met w^ith near villages. Its food is very 

 various, consisting of berries, seeds, and insects, and it 

 is very destructive to fruit-gardens ; its flesh is not vm- 

 palatable. 



This species forms its nest in the hollows of trees, 

 lining the cavity well with feathers. The eggs are four 

 in number, of a long oval shape, but tapering much more 

 at one end than at the other ; they are of a pale bluish 

 green, spotted all over with small dots of light brown. 



The iris is bright reddish orange, the bill, legs, and 

 toes more or less black. 



[I have examined the type specimen to which Messrs. Strick- 

 land and Sclater i^oc. cit.) gave the name of " Spreo bispecularis," 



