60 
In the pairing-season the males are noisy and quarrelsome, are often seen fighting in the air 
and following one another through the close timber-growth, and they perform peculiar aerial 
evolutions. Unless followed they are not particularly shy, but if often disturbed become very 
suspicious and wary.” 
Mr. Blanford says that it is “ a noisy bird, with a swift hawk-like flight, with all the usual habits 
of a Eoller, but keeping rather more to high trees than Coracias abyssinicus and C. ^ilosus, and perhaps 
rather more given to rolling from side to side when flying. It often hawks locusts and other insects 
in the air.” Antinori writes {I c.) that “ the negroes of the Djur call this bird ' Kongo.’ It appears 
in the woods of the Djur after the 15th March and remains until about the middle of April. In its 
harsh voice and its habits generally it resembles the rest of the Coracidae. It always perches on the 
tops of the trees, especially such as are on the borders of a river or a swamp. Between nine and ten 
in the forenoon it appears at its drinking-places, but passes the rest of the day in the dense forests, 
where it hunts after insects; at midday it hides in the dense foliage and keeps quiet. When met 
with they were all paired. The sexes do not differ in plumage, but the chestnut-brown coloration 
of the iris is darker in the male than in the female. It is a very stupid bird, and if one or two are 
shot a third will fly off calling loudly, and after flying round for a short time will settle in the same 
place. Its flesh is not very palatable.” 
Dr. Boehm, writing about its habits as observed by him in Central Africa, says :—“ This active 
and beautiful bird, like many of its allies, enlivens the surroundings, as it is quite lively during the 
heat of the day when so many other birds are quiet and still. It usually takes its stand on a scathed 
tree in an open place in the field, though often met Avith also in other places, and it starts from its 
stand, often traA^’ersing considerable distances with a fine falcon-like flight, in pursuit of insects. Its 
note is varied and is often an unmusical, quacking, harsh and grating sound, and is uttered both when 
the bird is seated or on the wing. In the evening they collect in large flocks to roost on the trees 
in the fields, and in the dusk call to each other in harsh tones. Late in November they were in pairs, 
and the males and females Avere chasing each other in the open places. They are not shy and are 
consequently easy to shoot.” 
Like its allies, it nests in hollow trees and deposits its white eggs on the rotten wood without 
making any nest. According to Hartert the young were fledged early in June in the Niger district; 
but Boehm shot a young bird in Central Africa on the 25th February, and Fischer found a nest in a 
hollow tree, containing three young birds, late in November, in East Africa. It feeds on insects of 
various sorts, which it generally, if not always, captures on the wing. Jameson says that a specimen 
he obtained on the Umvuli river had its crop filled with a large species of Cicada which was 
very plentiful, and a specimen shot at Caconda by Anchieta had, he states, in its stomach the remains 
of a species of Julus. 
Dr. Eeichenow {1. c.) has recently given the provisional subspecific name of rufobuccalis to a 
form from Uganda, of which, however, he only has one specimen, obtained at Manjonjo on the 
11th January, 1891. This specimen, he writes, “ differs from the normal coloration of the species 
considerably in having the sides of the head plain reddish brown, Avithout any tinge of violet like the 
crown; the two central tail-feathers are, excepting the black terminal portion, washed with reddish 
brown on a black ground; the upper tail-coverts are only blue on the sides, the central ones being 
reddish broAAm. As JE. afer is so Avidely distributed I should consider these variations as individual 
rather than local, unless it be an isolated form. Further collections from Uganda will elucidate the 
matter ; meanwhile I propose to call this peculiar variety var. rufobuccalis.'’’ 
Not having seen the specimen in question, I am unable to give an opinion as to whether it is 
