The Birds of dmrihia. 
If)!) 
w ith a wliitt' s|)()t, on tlie first two the spot is coiihiicd to tlic iiiiKii- wt-l) only, 
on tlie third the white slightly encroaches on the outer wel) us well, on the 
remainder it exten<)s right across both webs ; the secondaries aie without 
an\ white. Some of the iiriinary coverts tipped with wliite, forming a single 
spot, the otlu'i' (•o\ei-ts have a bluer gloss than the back, &c. Tail wedged- 
shaped and much graduated, the four centre feathei's metallic dark-blue 
throughout, the others a greener blue with a separate white spot on each 
web near the end. Below fi't)ni chin to vent, like the l)ack but with scarcely 
any gloss. Bill generally red, darker along the culinen, but its colour is very 
variable : in some specimens it is black with a red tinge towards the base and 
there is every gradation between these two extremes, both of which have 
been represented in the different examples I have shot. Legs pink-red with 
a waxy look. Iris dark brown. 
Female. Slightly smaller, I think, than the male and with a shorter 
and straighter bill. 
Length of a definite male (from dissection). 17| inches ; bill, 2 and one- 
sixteenth inches : of a female 1(1 inches, bill \ l inches. Later on, however. 
I got a bird which I am almost certain, from dissection, was a hen ; this 
measured 17-i inches and had a bill nearly two inches long do very old hens 
get long bills V). Many of the birds have all the throat and chin feathers 
tipped with brown ; these are probably young birds, but from those I have 
examined I think more females than males have these brown edges. 
Srnptel iih iitervhn us. 
liaiiije. Senegambia. (H.L.) 
This, another member of the sub-family. Irrinar'niae, the Wood- 
Hoopoes, is much rarer here than the preceding, and I have only once seen a 
'single individual (at Kudang, Dec, 190()), when I recognised it as it sat 
preening its feathers on the dead top of a small tree, from its similarity in 
shai)e and build to its larger relation, of wliich it is a miniature (half-size) 
edition. Unlike theni it does not go about in i)arties. but singly oi' in paiis. 
The following descri))ti()n is from the British Museum Catalogue. 
Adult (y female) : (Uossy purple, more steel blue on the centr.d i)oi - 
tion of the crown, wings and tail ; undei' surface from thi-oat to vent blacker; 
wing with ceiitral white band, the outer webs of first, second and third (juills. 
black ; tips of all i)uills grey with darker edges : outermost primary coverts 
steel blue, the next six white. Bill dark brown : feet Ijlack. Length 8'H 
inches. The young like the adult, but browner on the sides of the head and 
whole under surface. 
The male probably has the primaries nearly wholly steel-blue towards 
the tips with hardly a trace of the grey colour of the hen. 
*Curiously enough I saw another single examjjle of Scopte/nx in 
March this year (IIMO) at the same place, Kudang, and alinost on the same 
tree 
('To he continued.) 
