262 
The Birds of Gambia. 
paiiioiis, which follow one by one, chattering and calling to one another as 
tliey go, the last to leave generally making more noise and fnss than the 
others, as if calling to them not to leave liiiii behind. They must breed 
quite early in the year, as I have had a young bii d nearly fully feathered 
brought to me in April. Their Mandingo name is " Allala-Nansiiigo " 
(Allah's little boy), and it is considered b}' the IVIahomadan blacks very 
wrong and unlucky to kill one of these birds. 
campephagidyE;. 
Three species belonging to this family should be found in the 
Gambia, although I have so far to my knowledge never seen one of them. 
Their characteristic feature is the stiffening of the shafts of their rump 
feathers and general looseness of the plumage elsewhere. The bill 
hooked at the tip, is comparatively small and weak in Campephaga, stronger 
in Gyaucalus. Their food consists of caterpillars and various insects. 
Campephaga phoenicea. CRIMSON - SHOULDERED CUCKOO- 
SHRIKE. 
Range. West and Nortli-East Africa, Uganda. (H.L.) 
In this species the male is glossy Blue-black with crimson shoulder- 
patches, the female brown above barred with black, white spotted with 
black below. Length eight inches. 
C. xanihornoidcs. 
Range. North-East and West Africa. (H.L.) 
Resembles phoenicea, but has yellow shoulder-patches. 
Graucalm peclomlis. BLACK-CHESTED CUCKOO-SHRIKE. 
Range. Tropical Africa. (H.L.) 
This bird is considerably larger than those of the preceding ^^«?«, 
being 9^ inches long. It is light grey above, a very pale grey below, with a 
blackish throat and chest. It is said to much resemble a Cuckoo when 
seen flying. 
CRATEROPODID^. 
Hypergerus ainceps. ORIOLE BABBLER. ' 
Range. Senegambia to Nigeria. (H.L.) 
A small bird about 7j inches long with olive-green upper parts, 
yellow under surface and a black head, each feather of which is margined 
with white, so that a scaly appearance results. The bill is black, the legs 
dull yellow, the irides brown. These Babblers are not very common in the 
Gambia, but are, I think, resident all the year round. Whenever I have 
met with them they have been in pairs in the moderately thick bush which 
usually borders the Mangrove swamps. I had known the bird long before 
I was able to identify it from one of a pair shot at Essau in June, 1907, and 
till then had always called them in my own mind " Olive Bulbuls," as in 
their actions and ways they are most Bulbul-like. 
