NOTES ON THE HABITS OF SOME BIRDS, 
and Mr. Selby in our “ Illustrations of Ornithology.” Last year, by 
the attention of Maxwell Hyslop, Esq., the exertions of the officers 
in charge of the Liverpool Palm Oil Ships, procured for us a few 
specimens from the Old Calabar river ; some of which proved new, 
and were described in the “Annals of Natural History:” and 
these are all the sources of information, which of late years have 
occurred to us in respect to the ornithology of this interesting 
region. A few weeks since, Dr. Gordon, 57th Regiment, per- 
mitted us to examine, and kindly presented to us, a part of a col- 
lection made by himself during his medical attendance upon his 
regiment on service at Accra and Cape Coast Castle. One or two 
birds appeared to differ from any we had before seen from the 
same districts ; and on requesting to be informed of the particulars 
of their capture, &c., Dr. Gordon was so kind as to forward his 
notes made upon the spot, and to accede to our desire to publish 
a selection from them ; and we would direct attention to them, as 
well for their value in adding to the history of species very seldom 
accessible in their native country, as an example of what we pointed 
out in our “ Hints for Preparing and Transmitting Ornithological 
Specimens from Foreign Countries,” * of how much could be done 
by many of our officers, or other gentlemen, though employed in 
active service. 
The character of the ornithology of the west coast, on both sides 
of the line, is either peculiar, or partakes more of that of Northern 
and North-eastern Africa than of the south. Several of the species 
met with by Riippell on the north and north-east — such as Sector - 
nis climaturus, in Sennaar ; Cypselus ambrosaicus, in Egypt and 
Nubia; ffirundo senegalensis , &c., Abyssinia; Malaconotus chry- 
sogaster , common in Abyssinia ; Ploceus larvatus, Euplectes 
ftammiceps , Emberiza septemstriata, in Abyssinia ; Pyrgita sim- 
p ex, common in Kordofan, Sennaar, and Abyssinia, &c., with 
many others, are found also far to the south of the line, and 
lave a veiy extensive range; at the same time, a great many 
• f 6 s l )eci ® s found along the western coast are migratory, but 
norma ion is still wanting to determine their zones or geogra- 
P ica range; and the shorter-winged birds, as the species of Dry- 
mozca, and many of the Sylviadm; the former, very numerous, 
2 * Contributions to Ornithology for 1848. 
