THE BIRDS OF LIBERIA 661 
ceding species, for he says the male was double-spurred. Oberholser received one 
from Mount Coffee. Thompson (1925) records a set of eggs taken December 29 
in Sierra Leone. 
Agelastes meleagrides Bonaparte. Turkey-like Guinea-fowl; White-necked Guinea-fowl 
Agelastes meleagrides Bonaparte, Proc. Zool. Soc. London for 1849, p. 145, 1850: Gold Coast. 
Length about 19 inches; head and neck unfeathered, rose-red, becoming white on the lower 
neck with a few white feathers; feathers of neck white all around, rest of plumage blackish, finely 
vermiculated with gray. Liberia to Gaboon. 
This forest-haunting guinea-fowl proved to be an exceedingly elusive bird. 
In spite of special efforts, we did not secure a single specimen nor even see an 
individual. The natives occasionally snare one in nooses set at openings in a 
long barrier made of sticks and palm fronds in the forest, but they seem at all 
times rare and secretive in habits. Biittikofer on his first visit to the country 
secured a male at Soforé Place, where it was trapped by a native; later (1888) 
others were taken near Schieffelinsville and Stampfli was so fortunate as to obtain 
eight from the natives who trapped them near Mt. Gallilee. These ‘‘must have 
belonged to one large travelling flock, as they all were caught within one week, 
toward the end of July” (Biittikofer, 1889, p. 126). He kept them alive for a 
time and they became fairly tame. At first they would eat nothing but the 
larvae of Termes mordax. In addition to these records, Chubb (1905) notes one 
from St. Paul’s River. 
Guttera edouardi pallasi Stone. West African Crested Guinea-fowl 
Guttera pallasi Stone, Auk, vol. 29, p. 208, 1912: West Africa. 
Crest and neck feathers black, elsewhere finely speckled, each spot white with a bluish ring; 
wing feathers edged with blue, the longer ones with white. Bare skin of throat red, rest of head 
blackish. Sierra Leone to Togoland. 
In spite of much search, our experience was like that of Biittikofer who found 
this a shy and secretive bird, and obtained specimens only with difficulty. The 
natives occasionally snare them or kill them while waiting for antelope in the 
forest. They occasionally come out of the forest to secluded rice fields to feed 
in early forenoon or before sunset, and it was in such a place that we startled a 
pair late one afternoon at Paiata. A woman who tended this rice field said 
that the birds had been coming daily. They rose from a small patch of weeds 
and rice and flew directly to the trees at the edge of the forest with feeble cack 
cack sounds. Following them I was able to come directly under the tree in which 
they perched. At times they are said to gather into small flocks. Buttikofer 
reported specimens from Bavia and Buluma, as well as from Hill Town and Mt. 
Olive. Chubb records one from St. Paul’s River. Thompson (1925) regards it 
as common on the borders of forest and grasslands in the back country of Sierra 
Leone. The native name along the St. Paul’s is Pleon. 
