1 78 77^1? Birds of Gambia. 
Cinnyris cuprens. COPPER SUNBIRD. 
Range. Tropical Africa generally ; common in Senegainbia. (Sh.) 
Rather rare in the Gambia, but I have occasionally seen it in and near 
Bathurst. The male is a black ))ird with the head and neck a bright copper 
colour, shot with gold and lilac. 
C. splendidns. THE SPLENDID SUNBIRD. 
Range. Senegal to Gaboon. [Sh.) 
The male is a violet-headed bird with green back, black abdomen, 
wings and tail, a broad collar of violet edged with red and pale yellow 
pectoral tufts. Female dull olive above, pale buff beiow. I have never 
shot or recognised this species, but it is recorded from Bathurst. 
C. venustus. BUFF-BREASTED SUNBIRD. 
Range. West Africa from Senegal to the Cuuene and Zambesi rivers. 
{Sh.) 
A small, very daintily coloured species. In the male the head, neck, 
and back are briglit golden green, the face and neck violet with a narrow 
black breast-band below ; the remainder of under surface pale yellow with 
orange-red and bright yellow pectoral tufts. The female has uo metallic 
colours. 
This Sunbird is fairly common in Fogiii, the most densely wooded 
part of the Protectorate, where I see it every year, and in March, 1907, shot 
males in full colour, but I have not to uiy knowledge met with the species 
elsewhere. 
C. Mot opy gins. SCARLET-COLLARED SUNBIRD. 
Range. West and Central Africa; one specimen at Berlin from 
Senegal, one in the British Museum from Cape Palnias; also recorded from 
the Casamause. (Sh.) All these places are either immediately to the north 
or south of us, so that it almost certainly does also occur in the Gambia, 
but I have never seen it, nor do I believe that it has actually been recorded 
from this countr}-. The male is a green and brown bird with a scarlet 
breast-band. 
Chalcomitra senegalensis. SCARLET-CH KSTED SUNBIRD. 
Range. West African coastland between 10 and 15 N. Lat. (Sh). 
This is, I think, by far the commonest of our brighter coloured Sun- 
birds, both in Bathurst and up country. They generally occur in small 
parties, which in the autumn consist largely of males, hopping and flying 
about the foliage of the larger trees. I have noticed in this species a habit 
which, as far as my observations go, is at any rate distinctly unusual with 
other Sunbirds, and that is that in the dry season they are often seen hunt- 
ing the branches and trunks of leafless trees, or the ground immediately 
beneath them. 
The male is dark brown with the crown and abroad moustache-streak 
bright green, the latter contras-ting markedly with the dark olive chin and 
