33° 
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA 
found in one part of British Central Africa, in the Mweru district. 1 There 
may be other examples to be quoted ; but no doubt the break in distribution 
is less marked amongst the birds (which have easier means of distribution 
and are less subject to the attacks of man) than among the mammals. It 
will also be found that this breach in continuous distribution is less and less 
apparent amongst reptiles and Batrachians, fishes and invertebrates. It is 
practically confined to birds and mammals. 
And now to notice some of the more remarkable birds which meet the 
traveller’s eye or deserve his attention in British Central Africa. Amongst 
the Passerines there are two crows—possibly three—the great white-necked 
raven ( Corvultur albicollis) the common black and white crow ( Corvus scapu- 
latus) and, I think, the black rook or crow, of South Africa ( Corvus capensis). 
Of this last named no specimen has been sent home, but I have seen it—or 
a bird singularly like it, entirely black in plumage—on the upper part of 
Mount Mlanje and on the higher plateaux of Zomba mountain. Of the two 
first named crows the white-necked raven is extremely common in all the 
hill country, while the black and white crow (though also visiting the hills) 
replaces the larger bird in the plains. The white-necked raven has an 
enormous beak from which feature the bird is named Corvultur. It is even 
larger than the common raven and very handsome, its body being shiny, 
almost bluish black and deep dull sepia black, with a large white patch on 
the back of the neck, extending downwards till it nearly forms a white collar. 2 
The common black and white crow is found throughout Africa from the 
verge of the Sahara to Natal ; but I have sometimes thought that it was 
less prevalent in the interior, especially in the forest regions than on or near 
the sea coast, where it is always the bird most commonly met with. It is 
very useful as a scavenger and is not such a robber as the white-necked raven, 
which, in spite of its beauty, one is obliged to destroy, as it carries off all 
small ducks and chickens within its reach. There is no form of magpie or 
jay ever met with in Tropical Africa. Amongst the starlings we have the 
red-billed oxpecker. 3 It is the mission of the red-billed oxpecker to cling 
by its sharp claws to the bodies of buffaloes and other large herbivora and 
remove from their skins the blood-sucking ticks. The beautiful glossy starlings 
are represented by the genera Lamprotornis and Lamprocolius. One stammers 
in admiration before these lovely birds whose plumage is iridescent purple, 
emerald-green, bronze-red, and vivid ultramarine-blue. Their eyes are golden- 
yellow. Their plumage is literally glossy, and although they seldom live long- 
in captivity, they become delightfully tame. It is only the mature birds that 
assume these gorgeous colours ; the young begin by being brown with dull 
mottlings-—they look very like the young of the common starling—but 
by degrees the gem-like feathers appear amongst the brown and gradually 
the whole plumage is covered with this iridescent gloss. Another very 
beautiful member of the starling group is the Amydrus inorio. 
Amongst the Orioles we have three, two of which are widespread species and 
yellow, grey, and black in colour, but one has proved to be entirely new to 
science and was discovered by Mr. Whyte on Mount Chiradzulu in the Shire 
Highlands and sent home by me in 1895 ( Oriolus chlorocephalus). It has 
1 Represented by one species only. 
2 This bird is illustrated in my Kilimanjaro book. 
3 Another curious instance of interrupted distribution is that of the common African oxpecker 
[Buphaga Africana), which is found in north-east and north-west Africa, and in the Transvaal, but 
not in the intervening districts of South-Central Africa. 
