THE BIRDS OF LIBERIA 713 
The only thrush to be recorded from Liberia is apparently rare for the single 
record is that of Biittikofer who secured an adult female at Grand Cape Mount. 
Lowe, who collected two in Sierra Leone, notes that his attention was first at- 
tracted by their habit of turning over dead leaves in feeding. 
Saxicola rubetra (Linné). The Whinchat 
Motacilla rubetra Linné, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 186, 1758: Sweden. 
Length 5.5 inches; streaked blackish brown and rufous above; a prominent white eyebrow 
stripe in the male, a buffy one in the female; sides of head blackish brown; chin, throat, and sides of 
breast buffy, belly white; tail dark brown, the basal fourth of central and half the other feathers 
white. Europe, wintering in Africa. 
This European species is well known to be a common winter bird in open 
places over parts of Africa, but since it avoids forest country, Liberia is somewhat 
outside of its winter range. In Sierra Leone, Kemp (1905) records it in January, 
February, and April at Bo and Thompson (1925) found it common in the more 
open interior of the same country. Biittikofer recorded a male in breeding 
plumage, probably on its way north, from the Sulymah River, Sierra Leone, very 
close to the Liberian border, but the only record for the country is that of Chubb 
(1905) of an adult female taken on the St. Paul’s River, January 16, 1905. 
TIMALIIDAE Timaliines 
Illadopsis fulvescens (Cassin). Brown Ant-thrush 
Turdirostris fulvescens Cassin, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, 1859, p. 54: River Camma, 
West Africa. 
Length 6.5 inches; above olive brown, the tail clear dark brown, its feathers edged with rusty; 
rump rusty; cheeks gray; chin white, rest of under side rusty olive; lower mandible and feet blue- 
gray. Liberia to Angola. 
Bittikofer records the capture of but three specimens of this bird in all the 
time of his collecting in Liberia, namely, one at Hill Town, a male from Mt. Olive, 
and a third bird from Robertport. Yet it is a common species in the forested 
part of the country. Its habits are, however, extremely retiring and it inhabits 
the densest undergrowth of forests where it is remarkably secure from the collec- 
tor. Dr. Linder and I while scrambling through the tangles on a steep hillside 
under primeval forest trees near the Du River, came upon a fledgling, which 
with some difficulty we captured. The parent birds at first were much disturbed, 
uttering a wren-like chatter in protest, but though constantly flitting in and out 
among the thick growth, would not show themselves for but a fraction of a 
second through the twigs. The young bird as well as the adults kept either on 
the ground or close to it, and the latter presently withdrew. This was on July 28 
at the height of the rains. An adult was secured at Paiata in dense scrub. 
Reichenow notes that this bird feeds on driver ants whose long armies it follows 
in the forest. 
