Birds of Gambia. 
last season, and has helped me to understand how it may bo 
possible lor a single pair to rear two broods within t!K' ex- 
ceedingly narrow time limit of an Arctic summer, wliicli, be 
it noted, does not normally exccu'd seven weeks. I do not pro- 
pose to state the exact age here because I think that many 
aviculturists would regard the statement as improbal)le and 
I have lived long enough in this world to know that there 
is notlung to be gained and much to be lost by making 
any statement which is not likely to bj accepted, even though 
one has the very best grounds for knowing it to be correct. 
Birds of Gambia. 
By E. HoPKiNSON, D.S.O., M.A., M.B. 
{Continued from, page 153). 
PHALACROCORACID^. 
This family contains the Cormorants and Snake -'birds or 
Darters. On the Gambia river the African Snake-lnrd and two 
specie.s of Cormorant, a large and small, are found. The two Cor- 
morants can easily 'b€ distingiushed even at a distance by the great 
difference in their size, one, P. lucidus, beingf about a foot longer 
than the other, P. africanus, 35 inches as against 23. The former 
also has a white throat and breast, but this is not very notieealdei 
when the 1>ird is some little way off. P. africanus I hav© never 
seen on the sea-coast, "but all the way up the river as far as oiu' 
eastern l)oundary it is to be commonly met with, either swimming 
with deeply sunk 'body, .so that nothing but its back and long neck 
can 'be seen, or perched on some branch overhanging the water, 
waiting for its prey or sunning itself with one or 1)0111 wingsi out- 
.stretched just as the Cormorants do on our coasts at home. When 
dlstur'bed it will fly off with rapid and straightforward flight al no 
great distance a'hove the water to some remoter resting place. Tli^ 
larger White -breasted Connorant is moie of a sea-coast bird, i)ut is 
also found, thoug'h not in such large numbers as its relation, up the 
river at least as far as McCarthy Island and is also quite common 
along the Vintang and other mangrove -fringed creeks which open 
into the river near its mouth. 
The Snake-'bird, which at a distance can nearly always be 
distinguished from the Cormoiants by its rufous throat, slimmer build 
and longer and more pointed wings, is also common along* the river. 
This bird swims even lower in the wabar than the Cormorant, so 
that one sees nothing but its head and long wavy neck. From this 
it gets its popular name, which fits it well, for wheai in the water 
