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!
THE
meres OF -AF RICA,
COMPRISING ALL THE SPECIES WHICH OCCUR
IN THE
ETHIOPIAN REGION.
BY
G. E. SHELLEY, F.ZS, F.RGS., &.
(LATE GRENADIER GUARDS),
AUTHOR OF ‘‘A HANDBOOK TO THE BIRDS OF EGYPT,”
‘©4 MONOGRAPH OF THE SUN-BIRDS,” ETC.
PART I.
LON DION:
PUBLISHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY
R. H, PORTER, 7, PRINCES STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, W.
1906.
CONTENTS.
PAGE |
List oF PuatEs Vv. | 666. Cosmopsarus regius
Section IV. Corvi 1 | 667. 5 unicolor
Family I. Ortonipe ... 2 | Genus VI. LamproTornNis
Genus OrtoLus ee 2 668. Lamprotornis caudatus
647. Oriolus galbula 3 669. “5 eytoni ... :
648. » auratus 3) 670. a purpuropterus...
649. », notatus fy) (eal, 5 wneocephalus ...
653. » brachyrhynehus 7 672. 55 meyesi
654. », higripennis NS) (7/8 benguelensis
650. ,, chlorocephalus 10 | 674. australis
651. », monachus 11 675. ornatus
652. » larvatus ary AD 676. splendidus
655. », crassivostris (Pl. xi.) 91 (PI. xlv.)
Family Il. Srursipx 22°) 677. x chrysonotis
Subfamily I. BurpHacina 29 678. “ acuticaudus
Genus BupHaca 23 | 679. 3 pheenicopterus
656. Buphaga africana 23 | 680. x chalybzeus
657. » erythrorhyncha 28 | 681. 5 chaleurus
Subfamily II. Srurninas 31 | 682. 3 purpureus
Genus I. Hypocotius 33 683. ys cupreocaudus
658. Hypocolius ampelinus 34 (PI. xlvi.)
Genus II. Harrnausius 36 | 684. ee purpureiceps ...
659. Hartlaubius auratus ... 36 | 685. A melanogaster
Genus III. Crynyricincuus 37 (PL. xlvil.)
660. Cinnyricineclus leucogaster 38 | 686. 6 iris :
661. 5 verreauxi 41 | Genus VII. Spreo
662. is fischeri 44 | 687. Spreo bicolor
663. A femoralis 688. ,, albicapillus
(Pl. xliv.) 46 689. ,, superbus
664. a sharpei 46 | 690. ,, hildebrandti
Genus LY. SPECULIPASTOR 47 691. ,, shelleyi
665. Speculipastor bicolor ... 47 692. ,, pulcher
Genus VY. CosMopsARus 48 | Genus VIII. OnycHoaNATHUS
PAGE
49
50
5L
53
53
56
56
59
59
62
64
67
69
70
73
77
78
50
81
82
84
85
85
88
89
91
92
93
96
693. Onychognathus fulgidus
694. es hartlaubi
695. walleri
696. frater
697. caffer
698. morio
699. rueppelli
700. blythi
(Pl. xlviii.)
701. tenuirostris ...
702. albirostris
703. ae salvadorii
Genus IX. Paortrrrus
704. Poeopterus lugubris
705. ra stuhlmanni
(Pl. xlix.)
706. PP kenricki ee
Genus X. Sturnus
707. Sturnus vulgaris
Genus XI. CREATOPHORA
708. Creatophora carunculata
Genus XII. ACRIDOTHERES ...
709. Acridotheres tristis
CONTENTS
PAGE
97 | Genus XIII. Marnatus
98
100
101
103
105
105
109
113
114
116
117
lal
119
120
121
121
129
123
128
128
710. Mainatus religiosus
Genus XIV. Freainurus
711. Fregilupus varius
Genus XY. Nrecropsak
712. Necropsar leguati
Family III. Corvrpa
Genus I. CornvuLtTuR
713. Corvultur albicollis
714. », Grassirostris
Genus II. Corvus
715. Corvus affinis
T16;. 0." eealbas
717. » umbrinus
718. .,, edithe ...
719. ,, capensis
Genus III. Pyrrnocorax
720. Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
Genus LV. PycaTHARTES
721. Pycathartes gymnocephalus ...
722. - oreas
Genus V. CrYPTORHINA
723. Cryptorhina afra
PAGE
130
130
131
131
132
132
133
134
134
138
140
140
144
149
151
152
157
157
159
159
160
161
161
-Plate XLIIT,,
Plate XLIV.,
Mee Plate XLV,
Plate XLVI.,
Plate XLVIL.,
”
Plate XLVIIL.,
7 Plate XLIX.,
So Ep
38
=r)
ER
og
Ep
gg 08
pr wp
Oriolus ecrassirostris
Cinnyricinelus femoralis
Cosmopsarus unicolor
Lamprocolius splendidus
Lamprocolius cupreocaudus
5 purpureiceps
Lamprocolius melanogaster
Spreo shelleyi
Onychognathus blythi
Poeoptera stuhImanni
5 kenricki
DiS TOF PEATES—VObL. V., PART 4,
—— ss —— —
109
Sg at ye a Oe Te oo a ae ae
aa
Section IV. CORVI.
The members of this Section have the plumage of the young birds duller
than that of the adults, sometimes more streaked or blotched, but never
more barred, as in the Danii or Shrikes, nor more spotted, as in the T'wrdi or
Thrush group, and never brighter than the adults, as is the case in the
Siluye or Warblers. They differ from the F’ringille, or Finches, in the
form of the bill; from the Alaude, or Larks, in the back of the tarsus being
‘plain, not scutellated, and the secondaries never reach to the tip of the
wing; from the other four Sections they differ in their mode of feeding, often
perching on the ground for that purpose and they are more omnivorous.
Flight powerful; wings pointed; bill and feet strong; generally gre-
garious ; not migratory (Oriolus galbula excepted) ; sexes generally alike in
plumage ; size about that of a Thrush, excepting in the Corvide, the largest
of which is the Raven.
Nest cup-shaped and placed among boughs or in holes. Hggs, generally
five in a clutch, are uniform or spotted.
KEY TO THE FAMILIES.
a. Tarsus short, never more than 1:1 inches and is not longer
than the culmen, otherwise they are Thrush-like in form
and size, with no metallic gloss. All the Ethiopian species
have a considerable amount of yellow on the upper parts,
head or neck, as well as upon the breast, and the bill is
pale reddish brown inadults . ...... =... + Oriolide.
b. Tarsus comparatively longer. No yellow feathers on the
upper parts, head or neck, which are generally strongly
glossed ; bill never pale reddish brown.
a1. Rarely with any notch on the upper mandible; form and
size generally more ered tail of twelve eae
square or graduated . . . . c . Sturnide.
61. A notch on the upper mandible near the aad size a vable
from that of a Thrush to that of a Raven; tail, when of
twelve feathers is square or rounded and when of only ten
feathers is generally graduated and longer than the wing. Corvide.
(January, 1906. 1
2 ORIOLIDZ
Family I ORIOLIDA.
Bill moderately strong, pale reddish brown in adults and generally black
in young birds; a slight notch on the upper mandible near the tip; nostrils
exposed ; rictal-bristles obsolete. Wing of ten primaries; first primary more
than half the length of the second one. Tail of twelve feathers, rounded
and shorter than the wing. Tarsus rather short, not longer than the culmen.
Sexes often similar in plumage; young streaked. An Autumn moult
only. Nest cup-shaped and suspended between small branches.
The family is confined to the Hastern Hemisphere and comprises some
fifty species, of which eight are confined to the Ethiopian Region, and one,
O. galbula, migrates into Europe to breed.
Genus ORIOLUS.
Type.
Oriolus, Linn. §. N. i. p. 160 (1766) . . . . . . O. galbula.
Galbulus, Bp. C. R. xxxviii. p. 535 ast . . . . O. galbula.
Baruffius, Bp. ¢t.c. p. 5388. . . . . . + . O. brachyrhynchus.
KEY TO THE SPECIKS.
a. Head mostly yellow or green, with no black on the crown.
a1, Head mostly yellow in adults; no bluish grey edges to the wing-
feathers.
a?, Wings with no bright yellow edges to the feathers galbula.
b2, Wings with bright yellow edges to the feathers.
a’. Outer tail-feathers black at the base . . . . auratus.
6%. Outer tail-feathers almost entirely yellow. . . notatus.
b1. Head entirely green in adults; some broad bluish
grey edges to the wing-feathers. . . . . . . . chlorocephalus.
b. Head black, at least in adult males.
cl. Tail yellower, no black bases to the feathers . . . monachus.
d', Tail with black bases to the feathers.
c*. Breast golden yellow.
c’, Primary coverts with white ends.
a*. Larger, wing more than five inches; bill
longer. . . aly cso) eines meats oe
b4. Smaller, wing ie phan Bp inches; bill
slightly shorter. . . 7 2 es 2 (Orachyrynchiuss
d*, Primary-coverts entirely Bleek: 7 5 + « « « Mgnipennis. [a
d*, Breast yellowish white ...... =... =. . crasstrostris, «
)-
ORIOLUS GALBULA 3
Oriolus galbula.
Oriolus galbula, Linn. S. N. i. p. 160 (1766) Hurope; Dresser, B. Eur.
ili, p. 365, pl. 144 (1875); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 191 (1877) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 568 (1896) ; A. L. Butler, Ibis, 1905, p. 323
Khartowm.
Coracias oriolus, Linn. (x.) p. 107 (1758) Hwrope.
Oriolus oriolus, Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 654 (1903).
Adult male. General plumage bright golden yellow, with the wings and
tail mostly black; in front of eye a broad black band; wing black above,
with broad pale yellow ends to the primary coverts; quills with whitish
terminal margins, broadest on the outer webs of some of the secondaries
and a few of the larger quills have very imperfect white outer edges; under
wing-coverts yellow; under surface of quills dusky ash, fading almost into
white on their inner edges ; tail, with the base and centre black, the yellow
ends to the feathers rapidly increasing in extent towards the outer ones.
Iris crimson; bill pale brownish red; feet grey. Total length 9-4 inches,
culmen 1:0, wing 6:1, tail 3-6, tarsus 0°85. Bogos (Hsler).
Adult female. Differs in having the wings and tail paler; upper parts
shaded with olive; throat and breast white, shading into olive yellow on
the sides and under tail-coverts, and with some blackish shaft-stripes ;
wings dusky brown, with a wash of olive yellow on the inner secondaries,
greater-coverts and edges of the lesser-coverts ; tail with the centre feathers
olive and the dark portion of the others dusky olive extending nearly to
the ends of the feathers.
Immature. Similar in plumage to the adult females, or, in the younger
specimens, the wing-coverts have whitish terminal margins, the under parts
more strongly striped and the tail more olive.
The European Golden Oriole breeds during its migration
in Europe and Western Asia, and has been met with as far
north as 60° N. lat. It ranges over the whole of Eastern and
Southern Africa, and North-western Africa to as far south
as Senegambia.
The greater portion of the specimens migrate from Africa
in April, and return to that continent again in September,
but some apparently remain in Tropical Africa throughout
the year, for Dr. Hinde procured an example at Nairobi, on
June 1, 1899. It has not been recorded from Western Africa,
4 ORIOLUS GALBULA
between Senegambia and Damaraland, so it apparently
migrates from the latter country and Cape Colony, through
the eastern side of the continent, and according to Hartlaub
(Vég. Madag., 1877, p. 159), has been met with on the
island of Madagascar in October. When I was in Egypt
these Orioles were first seen on April 20, and soon became
plentiful in parties of five or six, all hurrying northward
on their migration.
They are shy birds, and naturally keep to the thickest
foliaged trees they meet with, so consequently are not easy
to observe, but may be attracted into view by imitating their
loud flute-like note, which has been compared to the words,
“Who are you,’ which is an appropriate remark for these
birds to make, as they are very wary and careful not to show
themselves in dangerous company. Mr. Dresser gives good
figures of the adult male and female (Birds of Europe, iii.,
p. 365, pl. 144) and writes: “It devours all sorts of insects
that inhabit the woodlands, but is especially fond of the large
ereen caterpillars which are found on the leaves of the trees.
It also feeds largely on berries and fruit when in season, but
is not more destructive in a garden than many other birds,
and amply repays any mischief it may do by the number of
noxious insects it kills. It is most partial to cherries, of all
garden-fruit, but will also feed on currants, and especially on
mulberries.
“In Germany, where I have several times found its nest, it
commences nidification soon after its arrival in May, the place
chosen being usually in a dense wood or grove, the nest being
placed on the upper part of a tolerably small tree, and neatly
suspended amongst the smaller branches. It is always placed
in a fork of a small branch, the nest being basket-shaped, and
neatly woven to the slender branches on each side, and is
one of the most artistic structures amongst the nests of our
ORIOLUS AURATUS 5)
European birds. Both male and female co-operate in the
construction of the nest. One I have before me is built in
the fork of a slender oak branch, and is made of strips of
pliable bark, straw, dried grass-bents, &c., closely and firmly
constructed, and carefully twisted and woven round the
branch. The outside is ornamented with strips of paper-like
white birch bark; and the interior is lined with fine grass-
bents. In size it measures 4 inches one way and 53 the
other in outside diameter, the inside cup measuring 3-3}
inches in diameter, and 25 inches in depth. As the nest is
not built until the foliage is fully developed, it is by no means
easy to find it.”
The eggs, four or five in number, are laid in the latter
part of May or early in June. They are glossy white, spotted
with reddish brown, and measure about 1°2 x 0°85.
Mr. A. L. Butler writes: “A very considerable immigration
of Golden Orioles occurs at Khartoum at the beginning of
September, when the lime and fig-trees are full of them,
mostly immature birds. After this they pass on, and are
comparatively scarce until March again. I have never heard
them utter their beautiful flute-like notes in their winter
quarters. From Halfa in the north their migration follows
the Nile Valley up to Uganda, Gedaref is the most eastern
point at which I have observed it.”
Oriolus auratus.
Oriolus auratus, Vieill. N. D. xviii. p. 194 (1817) Hab ?; Swains. B. W.
Afr. ii. p. 33, pl. i. (1837); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 195 (1877);
Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 569 (1896); Reichen. Vg. Afr. ii. p. 655
(1903) ; Grant, Ibis, 1905, pp. 201, 202 Uganda; Neum. J. f. O. 1905,
p. 232 N. #. Afr.
Oriolus bicolor, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 20 (1823) Senegambza.
Oriolus chryseus, Heugl. Syst. Uebers. p. 31 (1856) N. HE. Afr.
“Oriolus icterus, Wirt.” Heugl. J. f. O. 1867, p. 299 N. H. Afr.
Le loriodor, Levaill. Ois. Afr. vi. p. 49, pl. 260 (1808).
6 ORIOLUS AURATUS
Adult male. General plumage bright golden yellow ; a broad black band
from above the gape surrounds the eyes and includes the upper half of the
ear-coyerts ; wing, with the quills and greater coyerts black, the latter as
well as the secondaries, with strongly marked bright yellow edges; primaries
and primary-coverts, with narrow yellow or white terminal margins and an
indication of a white outer margin to some of the primaries; under surface
of quills dusky black with whitish inner margins; tail with the centre
feathers and the entire base of all the others black, each feather with the
end bright yellow, which colour increases in extent towards the outer ones.
Tris red; bill pale brownish red; feet dusky grey. Total length 9°6 inches,
culmen 1:15, wing 5:75, tail 3:6, tarsus 0-9. Gambia (Strachan).
Adult female. Differs from the adult male in its more olive colouring ;
black patch on sides of head more obscurely marked; dark portion of tail
larger and extending on the outer webs of the feathers nearly to their ends
and is washed with olive yellow most strongly towards the base.
Immature. Similar to the female, or, in younger specimens, with no trace
of the dark mark on the side of head ; throat and chest white streaked with
black.
The Northern African Golden Oriole inhabits Northern
Tropical Africa between about 4° and 18° N. lat.
This bird closely resembles our European Oriole in its
general colouring, voice and habits, but may be readily dis-
tinguished by the olive yellow on the wing, the black band
on the side of the head extending back behind the eye; and
like all the other African members of the genus it is not of
a migratory nature, and is generally to be met with in pairs,
or accompanied by the brood after the nesting season.
The species has been recorded from many places along the
Senegambian coast and from the Island of Bulama. Dr.
Rendall, while at the Gambia, wrote: “Common on the
mainland all the year round; occasionally stragglers seen
on the island.” It has not been recorded from Liberia, and
is known to me from Fantee by one of Swanzy’s specimens.
Inland from Fantee, Captain W. Giffard obtained five
examples at Gambaga from August to January, and Mr.
Boyd Alexander, who met with it at the same place, writes:
ORIOLUS NOTATUS 7
“This Oriole is not found in the forest region. It is generally
observed in pairs, frequenting open country, and is probably
a resident in the Hinterland.” In Togoland specimens have
been collected at many places and at all seasons. At the
Niger, Thomson obtained a specimen at Abo, and Dr. Hartert
a pair at Loko, and considered it to be rare in that district.
I cannot trace the range further south on the West Coast,
although the type was supposed to haye been discovered in
Angola by Perrein.
Specimens have been collected by Bohndorff at Sassa in
the Niam Niam country, by Emin at Redjaf, Kiri, Mabero,
Rimo and Wandi, and by Antinori in the Djur country.
According to Heuglin it is a resident in the warmer parts
of North-east Africa, but does not range into Abyssinia.
He met with it on the western slopes of the Amhara
highlands on the Upper Rahab, at Galabat and at Fazogl.
Oriolus notatus.
Oriolus notatus, Peters, J. f. O. 1868, p. 132 Tete ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1870, p.
218, pl. 7, fig. 2; id. Cat. B. M. iii. p. 196 (1877); Shelley, B. Afr.
I. No. 570 (1896); Reichen, Vog. Afr. ii. p. 656 (1903).
Oriolus anderssoni, Bocage, Jorn. Lisb. 1870, p. 342.
Adults. Very similar to O. awratus, from which it differs in the bill being
slightly shorter and stouter, and in the colouring of the quills, primary-
coverts and tail; quills with the yellow edges of the secondaries wide to the
base of the feathers; primaries with stronger white margins; primary-
coyerts with broad yellow ends; tail bright yellow with the exception of the
four centre feathers, which are black with golden ends and margins, the
remainder of the black being almost confined to the basal portion of the
shafts of the four pairs of outer feathers. Ivis red; bill pale brownish red ;
feet dusky grey. Total length 9-0 and 9-8 inches, culmen 0:95 and 1-05,
wing 55 and 5:6, tail 3-3, tarsus 0-9. Okovango R. (Andersson) and
Kilimanjaro (Johnston).
Immature. Differ from the adults in having the dark patch on sides of
head less distinctly marked; upper parts more olive; pale ends of primary
8 ORIOLUS NOTATUS
coverts narrower ; tail mostly dusky olive, with the yellow of the outer webs
confined to their ends, but the yellow extends further down on the
inner web.
The yellow on the tail gradually increases in amount with age; first it
expands on the inner webs and gradually extends over the external webs of
the four outer pair of feathers, without their being shed; throat and centre
of breast at first buff, with flanks yellow and streaked with black, gradually
changing into uniform yellow. This gradual change is well shown by the
following five specimens in the British Museum: a, Benguela (Monteiro) ; 4,
Karugwe, June (Whyte); c, Ikawa (A. Sharpe); d, Lake Shirwa, Aug. (A.
Sharpe); e, Nyasaland (Whyte).
The Southern African Golden Oriole replaces O. auratus
to the south of the Equator, and ranges over the whole of
Eastern Africa to nearly as far south as the Limpopo and
crosses the Continent into Western Africa from the Congo
to Damaraland.
In West Africa this Oriole has been procured by Bohndorff
at Kassongo and Kibondo in the Upper Congo district, by
Storms during his expedition to Lake Tanganyika, and in
Angola by Schutt and Mechow at Malandje and along the
Kuango River. It is generally distributed over this part of
the continent from the Congo to Damaraland, but never
extends beyond the limit of Tropical South Africa, and is
rarer to the south than to the north of the Cunene and
Zambesi Rivers. Monteiro calls it abundant at Benguela,
and in the Portuguese Possession it is known to the natives,
according to Anchieta, by the many following names: the
“ Kimuxoco”’ at Biballa, the “Cupio” at Quillengues, the
“ Unguloyombia ” at Caconda, the “ Xirongo” or “ Xirombo ”
at Quissange and Quindumbo, and as the “Dicole” at Humbe.
Andersson writes: “I have only obtained the adult of
this splendid Oriole in Damaraland on a few occasions, and
that always during the rainy season; the young, however,
are frequently met with; and at the Okavango River the
ORIOLUS NOTATUS 9
species is more common than in Damaraland proper. The
young birds are easily obtained, but the old are excessively
shy and difficult to procure, as they always perch on the
most elevated and conspicuous trees and retire into the
densest parts of tangled brakes and thickets on the least
approach of danger.”
In the country between the Limpopo and Zambesi Rivers,
Holub obtained the species at the Pandamatinka River to
the south of the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi; Jameson
and Ayres procured a specimen at the Ganyani River and
record it as “shy, but not uncommon in Mashonaland.”
Mr. Guy Marshall writes from Mashonaland: “ Not uncommon
in the summer months, arriving about October. It is solitary
in its habits, except for a short time after its arrival, when
it remains in small flocks.” He further remarks: ‘‘O. notatus
undoubtedly breeds in Mashonaland, and young birds with
mottled breasts are fairly plentiful during January and
February.”
The type of the species was discovered by Dr. Peters at
Tete on the Zambesi, and there is one of Sir John Kirk’s
specimens from the same locality in the British Museum.
From further up the Zambesi, Mr. Boyd Alexander writes:
“Scattered individuals observed for the first time at Zumbo
on December 12, frequenting the thick woods, and in company
now and again with young birds. The adults were then in
a moulting condition and were difficult to approach, their
clear whistling note being more often heard.” In this
neighbourhood, according to M. Foa, it is known as the
“ Kondiomo” (Oust. Bull. Mus. 1898, p. 60). The species
is abundant and very generally distributed over Nyasaland,
and, according to General W. H. Manning, it is called by
the natives of Angoniland the “ Hisundambawala.”
It is apparently equally plentiful throughout German Kast
10 ORIOLUS CHLOROCEPHALUS
Africa, and according to Stuhlmannis, in common with the
other Orioles, known to the natives of Usegua as the
“ Kubuiru.”
In its more northern range it has been procured on
Kilimanjaro (Johnston), in Taveita (Hunter), on Manda
Island, and at Witu (Jackson), at Melinda and Lamu (Kirk),
and at the Tana River (Fischer).
Oriolus chlorocephalus.
Oriolus chlorocephalus, Shelley, Ibis, 1896, p. 183, pl. 4 Mount Chirad-
zulu; Reichen. Vég. Afr. ii. p. 662 (1903).
Type. Entire head and throat uniform bright sage green ; a broad collar,
breast and under tail-coverts rich golden yellow; remainder of upper parts
mostly olive green, a shade darker than the head ; on the wings the green
shades into blue grey on the outer webs of the greater and primary coverts
and the quills, and, with the exception of the inner secondaries, the
remainder of the quills are greyish black, with imperfect ashy inner margins ;
five outer pairs of tail-feathers with yellow ends rapidly increasing in breadth
towards the outer feathers, remainder of these feathers have the shafts and
portion of the inner webs black; under wing-coverts bright yellow, a few of
the larger ones mottled with olive, and the outer greater series white with
some dusky marks. Iris red; bill pale reddish brown; feet grey. Total
length 10 inches, culmen 1:1, wing 5:2, tail 4:3, tarsus 1:0. 9, Mount
Chiradzulu (A. Whyte).
The Green-headed Oriole inhabits Eastern Africa between
5° and 15° S. lat.
The type was discovered by Mr. Alexander Whyte in July,
1895, when he visited Mount Chiradzulu, which is situated in
the Shiré highlands between Blantyre and Zomba. The late
Captain Sclater described Chiradzulu as “a striking moun-
tain, rising to a level ridge about two miles long, which runs
north and south to an elevation of nearly 5,000 feet. The
upper slopes are well forested and watered by numerous
small streams.”
ORIOLUS MONACHUS 11
The Tring Museum has also received a fine pair of this
beautiful and rare Oriole from Uguru, due west of Zanzibar
Island.
Oriolus monachus.
Turdus monacha, Gm. §. N. ii. p. 824 (1788) Abyssinia.
Oriolus monachus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 216; Shelley, B. Afr, I.
No. 571 (1896); Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 657 (1903); Grant, Ibis,
1904, p. 256 S. Abyssinia; Neum. J. f. O. 1905, p. 232.
Oriolus meloxita, Riipp. N. Wirb. Vég. p. 29, pl. 12, fig. 1 (1835) Abyssinia.
Oriolus meneliki, Blundell and Lovat, Bull. B. O. C. x. p. 19 (1899)
Burka; Grant, Ibis, 1900, p. 122, pl. 2; Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii.
p. 657 (1903).
Oriolus monachus permistus, Neum. O. M. 1905, p. 145 Gadat ; id.
J. f. O. 1905, pp. 233, 235.
The Nun Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. p. 77 (1783).
Adult. Entire head, upper half of neck and the throat black ; remainder
of neck, the upper tail-coverts, breast, thigh and under tail-coverts golden
yellow; the neck shading into a slightly more olive yellow tinge on the
back, seapulars and lesser wing-coverts ; tail, with centre feathers and more
than the basal half of the others yellowish olive, with dark shafts and a
trace of a broad blackish bar; remainder of the tail including the shafts
bright yellow (the amount of the bright yellow and of the dark bar on the
tail is very variable, the former increasing and the latter decreasing as the
bird grows older) ; most of the greater wing-coverts and the secondaries have
broad grey edges and a wash of yellow towards the back; primaries with
narrow ashy-white edges; primary coverts with broad white ends; under
surface of quills dusky ash, whitish towards their inner edges; under wing-
coverts yellow, with a few feathers next to the quills white. Iris red; bill
brownish red; feet pale grey. Total length 9-1 inches, culmen 0-9, wing
5:6, tail 4:0, tarsus 0-9. Abyssinia (Schaufuss),
The Nun Black-headed Oriole is confined to North-east
Africa, where it ranges over Shoa and Abyssinia into
Bogosland.
Although this was the earliest purely African Oriole
recognised, it is one of the rarest and most localised forms.
It was discovered by Bruce, probably in Shoa, and was
12 ORIOLUS LARVATUS
originally described from a painting made by that traveller.
It was first called the Nun Thrush by Latham, a few years
before it received its Latin name. Heuglin records it as
abundant in Abyssinia, at elevations varying from 2,000 to
8,000 feet, frequenting the belts of trees which line the banks
of the streams and form one of the prettiest features of the
country. In habits and voice it much resembles the better
known European Golden Oriole. In its more northern range,
Dr. Blanford considered the species to be rare, and remarks :
“Tt has a peculiar harsh double call-note.”
With regard to O. meneliki, Lord Lovat writes: “ This
Oriole is a native of the thickets, south of the Hawash
Valley. It is locally plentiful, and is always met with singly
or in pairs, feeding in forest trees with yellow leaves (name
unknown) and, notwithstanding the bright colour, is difficult
to see. The note is a melodious whistle, and the answer is
a harsh double note.”
Both Dr. Reichenow and Mr. Oscar Neumann regard
O. meneliki as specifically distinct from O. monachus; this
I do not believe to be correct. The type of O. monachus is a
fully adult bird, and that of O. meneliki an immature speci-
men. That the former is a highland race, ranging from 2,000
to 8,000 feet, and the latter a lowland form, appears to me to
be based upon no evidence, and the variation in the colouring
of the tail-feathers and bill can be accounted for by age, and
in no other manner.
Oriolus larvatus.
Oriolus larvatus, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 20 (1823) Kaffraria ; Monteiro, Ibis,
1862, pp. 335, 341 Quanza R. Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 217 (1877);
Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 572 (1896); Reichen. Vég. Afr. ii. p. 658
(1903) ; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 175 Pondoland ; Grant, t. c. p. 256
S. Abyssinia ; 1905, p. 203 Uganda.
with
ORIOLUS LARVATUS 13
Oriolus capensis, Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 237 (1837).
Oriolus arundinarius, Burch. Trav. S. Afr. i. p. 464 (1822).
* Oriolus chloris, Cuy.’’ Hartl. Orn. W. Afr. p. 81 (1857).
Oriolus rolleti, Salvad. Atti #. Acad. Torino, vii. p. 151 (1864).
Oriolus larvatus rolleti, Reichen. Vé6g. Afr. ii. p. 659 (1903); Neum.
J. f. O. 1905, p. 324.
Oriolus personatus, Heugl. 1867, p. 203 White Nile.
Oriolus larvatus, var. minor, Sharpe, Ibis, 1870, p. 225 Abyssinia and
Angola.
? Oriolus percivali, Grant, Bull. B. O. C. xiv. p, 18 (1903) Kikuyu.
Oriolus larvatus angolensis, Neum. J. f. O. 1905, p. 236 Malange.
Loriot coudougnau, Levaill. Ois. Afr. vi. p. 52, pl. 261 (1808).
Adult. Entire head and throat jet black ; remainder of the plumage, with
the exception of the wings and tail, uniform yellow of a more olive shade on
the mantle; wings black, with pale edges to the quill and broad white ends
to the primary-coverts; the pale edges to the quills are white on the
primaries and outer secondaries, increasing in breadth and becoming yellow
on the inner quills; lesser wing-coverts like the back, median and greater-
coverts slightly greyer with some black on their inner webs or base; under
surface of wings dusky black fading into ashy white on the inner webs of the
quills and the adjoining wing-coverts, remainder of the latter bright yellow;
tail olive yellow, with a black band across all but the centre feathers
separating the olive yellow from the clear bright yellow ends of the ten outer
feathers; both the yellow ends and the black band increasing in width
towards the outer feathers. Iris red; bill pale brownish red; feet dusky
ash. ‘Total length 9:2 inches, culmen 1:0, wing 5°5 and 5:4, tail 3°7, tarsus
0:95. g and.?, 3.74. Pinetown (Shelley).
Immature. Differs from the adult in baving the feathers of forehead and
crown edged with dull yellow ; back of neck and mantle with obscure blackish
stripes; chin and throat yellow with black shaft-stripes, chest with narrower
black stripes. Iris reddish brown; bill black; feet dusky ash. ?, 5. 3. 74.
Durban (Shelley).
Lichtenstein’s Black-headed Oriole ranges from Angola to
the Cunene River, and over the eastern half of the continent
from the Knysna in Cape Colony to about 12° N. lat.
The species has often been divided into two subspecies ;
a nominally large South African form, O. larvatus, and a
smaller race, O. roletti. The size of the individual probably
depends on the nutrition of the food it receives when young,
and might vary to some extent with the nature of the sur-
14 OREOLUS LARVATUS
roundings. Upon this theory alone can I suggest the reason
for the slight difference in size of some individuals, which does
not appear to be a character cither constant or restricted to
any special districts.
According to Dr. Reichenow, the Tropic of Capricorn
separates the range of O. larvatus, Licht. and O. roletti, Salvad.
To this species belong the Oriole, obtained by Bohndorff at
Kibondo, between the Congo and Lake Tanganyika (the
O. brachyrhynchus, Reichen., J. f. O..1887, p. 309), and it is
abundant from Angola to the Cunene River, for specimens
have been collected at Malange by Mechow in August,
October, November and February, by Schutt in May, and by
Sala at the Rio Dande. Mr. Monteiro found it known to
the natives of Massangana, on the Quanza River, as the
‘“Muenho” and it was very abundant in the wood at Benguela.
According to Anchieta it constructs its nest among the top
branches of trees and is known to the natives by the following
names: “Cupio” at Humbe, “ Angologombia” at Kakoma,
pronounced “Golagombia ” at Galanga, and “ Ungologombia”’
at Quindumbo. It has also been obtained by Kellen in the
Upper Cunene district, and by Eriksson at the Okovango
River. ;
Stark writes: “An abundant resident in all the forest and
wooded districts in Cape Colony, Natal, Zululand, Portuguese
East Africa and the Transvaal. ‘This beautiful Oriole is found
usually on the outskirts of forests, among detached groves of
trees, and the large growth on the banks of streams and rivers.
In such localities its rich flute-hke notes may be generally
heard. ‘These Orioles are alimost invariably in pairs. They
pass most of their time among the upper branches of fairly
lofty trees, preferring those of thick growth, in which their
brilliant plumage is concealed by a mass of foliage. They
rarely settle on the ground. Their flight is undulating and
OREOLUS LARVATUS 15
seldom prolonged for any great distance. They feed on cater-
pillars, small beetles and other insects, also on berries and
small fruits, occasionally on seeds. The young are fed exclu-
sively on caterpillars. The nest is suspended from a fork near
the end of a horizontal branch of a tree, at a height of from
twenty to fifty feet. It is saucer-shaped, woven from a long
grey lichen that grows on the higher forest trees, often where
it is hidden by the natural growth. The eggs, three to five
in number, resemble those of the Golden Oriole in size, shape
and colour.”
Mr. Shortridge, in his article on “ Birds from Pondoland ”
(“Ibis,” 1904, p. 175), observes: “It is often seen in company
with, or following flocks of, Lamprocolius melanogaster.”
Layard gives the following picturesque sketch of a haunt
of this bird: “On the left bank of the Kearboom’s River,
which falls into Plottenberg’s Bay, about half a mile from
where the mountains narrow down to the river, there is a
lovely kloof, which opens to the water’s edge, and stretches
back inland for about a couple of miles. A clear running
stream flows through the centre of it, and on each side rocky,
inaccessible precipices hem in a splendid forest. In this
lovely spot the silence was only broken by the babbling brook
and the loud pipe of the Oriole, which frequented the summits
of the gigantic yellow-wood trees, whose mighty heads, hung
with dense masses of grey moss, seemed, like vegetable Titans,
to watch over the solitude around them.” ‘The Messrs. Wood-
ward found this Oriole in Zululand, frequenting the high
trees, and flying “up and down the kloofs uttering its loud
pleasant cry. Besides this cry it possesses an excellent song,
with clear, mellow notes.”
Can this Oriole be migratory in Mashonaland? Jameson
and Ayres met with the species at the Umfuli River and
write: “ Occasionally we saw a specimen and heard its loud
16 OREOLUS LARVATUS
call amongst the trees, but none, however, appear to remain.”
Mr. Guy Marshall writes from the same country: “ Common
during the winter months, but with the exception of a few
pairs it evidently goes south to breed, shortly after the arrival
of O. notatus. It is a much less wary bird than the latter.”
Mr. Boyd Alexander also believed it to be migratory at the
Zambesi, but he only obtained a single specimen in July.
In the Nyasa district it is apparently a common resident,
and according to General Manning is known to the natives
of Angoniland as the “ Lisondambamala.” Dr. Stuhlmann
records its Usegua name as “ Kubuiru.” Béhn mentions it
as abundant but shy in the Marungu country on Lake Tan-
ganyika, and Fisher observed that it was a plentiful species in
Mangrove woods of Hast Africa, and that its note resembles
that of our Golden Oriole. Dr. Hinde procured specimens at
Ngong and along the Athi River, and writes: “ When the
wild figs are ripe, dozens of these birds may be seen in a
single tree, consorting with Lamprocolius chalybeus and
Oriolus galbula.”
The type of O. roletti was obtained by Brun Rollett in
the Upper White Nile in about 7° N. lat. According to
Heuglin it ranges northward to 8° N. lat., and the vague
locality ““ Nubia”? on a specimen in the Leyden Museum, we
cannot accept as evidence of its occurring further north.
The type of O. percivali was obtained by Mr. A. Blayney
Percival, in the Kikuyu Forest, March 29, 1902, and differs
from typical O. larvatus in having the four centre tail-feathers
entirely black, in which character, as well as in the form and
size of the bill, it resembles O. nigripennis (wing 5°5). There
is a second specimen of this form, not quite mature, in the
British Museum, obtained by Mr. Digget, in the Nandi Forest.
These I here treat of as varieties of O. larvatus, as they do »
not apparently have any distinct range.
ORIOLUS BRACHYRHYNCHUS 17
Oriolus brachyrhynchus.
Oriolus brachyrhynchus,* Swains., B. W. Afr. ii. p. 35 (1837) Sierra
Leone ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1870, p. 226, pl. 8; Shelley and Buckley, Ibis,
1872, p. 288, Abowrt; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 218 (1877);
Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 573 (1896).
Oriolus larvatus brachyrynchus, Reichen. V6g. Afr. ii. p. 660 (1903).
Oriolus baruffi, Bp. Consp. i. p. 347 (1850) Ashantee.
“Oriolus intermedius Temm.” Hartl. Orn. W. Afr. p. 81 (1857) Ashantee.
Oriolus letior, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. vii. p. 17 (1897) Gaboon ; id. Ibis,
1904, p. 91 Efulen.
Oriolus larvatus letior, Reichen. Vog. Afr. 11. p. 661 (1903).
Adult. Very similar in colouring to O. larvatus, but smaller, and with
a little more bluish grey on the outer greater wing-coverts and secondaries.
Wing 4:3 to 4:7 inches.
Immature. Differs from that of O. larvatus in having no black on the
head and no black streaks on the throat or body; head and throat yellowish
green, paler and yellower on the lores, cheeks, chin and throat, the feathers
of the latter part having yellow edges; terminal margins to the median
and greater-coverts yellowish white; bill reddish brown, only slightly darker
than in the adult.
Jn adults, from both the Gold Coast and Gaboon, the colour of the back
of the neck varies from greenish-shaded yellow (O. brachyrynchus, Swains.)
to bright yellow (O. letior, Sharpe), the latter probably being the older
birds.
The Short-billed Black-headed Oriole ranges over Western
Africa from Sierra Leone into Gaboon, and eastward to about
31 EH. long.
The species has been divided, in my opinion, wrongly, into
two, a northern and southern subspecies. The former and
typical race, with a range from Sierra Leone into Togoland,
and the Southern race O. /etior, Sharpe, extending over
Camaroons, Gaboon, and eastward to the country between
the Albert Nyanza and the Albert Edward Nyanza.
* In “ brachyrynchus” Swains., I have above inserted an additional h, for I look
upon the absence of that letter between the 7 and the n as a printer’s error only,
Swainson not leaving it out in Vidua erythrorhynchus, B. Afr. i. p. 176.
(January, 1906, 2
18 ORIOLUS BRACHYRHYNCHUS
The type was obtained at Sierra Leone, which is the most
northern range known for the species. In Liberia it is a
common bird of the forest, has been obtained at the Sulymah
River by Demery, and at St. Paul’s River, Grand Cape
Mount, Messurdo, Junk River, Schieffelinsville and Hull
Town, by Dr. Biittikofer, who remarks, after making some
observation on the variation in the size and colouring of his
specimens: “Their song is very much like that of O. galbula,
interrupted now and then by a kind of mewing like that of
a cat.’ The species is equally abundant on the Gold Coast.
The type of O. baruffi was one of Pel’s specimens from
Ashantee, on the label of which Temminck had previously
written ‘‘ O. intermedius,’ which name was later adopted by
Hartlaub for this species. Mr. Boyd Alexander writes :
“Common in the forest, where its flute-like call is often the
only bird-voice to be heard.” While I was out there with
T. E. Buckley, we found the present species and O. nigripennis
plentiful and frequenting the same trees at Abouri. In Togo-
land, these Orioles have been procured by Mr. Baumann, at
Misahéhe, Amedjovhe and Agome Tonewe. It has not been
recorded from further east, until we come to Camaroons,
where, according to Dr. Reichenow, it is entirely replaced by
O. letior.
These Orioles are abundant, in suitable places throughout
Camaroons and Gaboon, ranging inland to the Semliki River,
which connects the Albert Edward Nyanza with the Albert
Nyanza, where it has been obtained by Dr. Ansorge at Fort
Beni, and in the neighbouring country, to the westward, Emin
collected specimens in the Ukondju country at Karevia and
along the Ituri River at Irumu and Ipoto. The most
southern range known for the species is Gaboon, for the
Oriole obtained by Bohndorff on the Congo at Kibondo,
and referred to this species in 1887, is really a specimen of
O. larvatus,
ORIOLUS NIGRIPENNIS 19
Variety O. letior resembles O. brachyrhynchus in all
its measurements, and is a distictly smaller bird than
O. larvatus, which it resembles in the brighter and yellower
shade of the upper parts between the crown and the tail.
In the British Museum there are nine of the duller typical
forms of O. brachyrhynchus from the Gold Coast, and three
of O. letior, while from Camaroons and Gaboon there are
eight of O. /etior and three of the duller forms, which include
one from Efulen, in Camaroons, and two from Gaboon. I
therefore cannot look upon these forms as local subspecies ;
but they come under my definition as varieties, the extreme
forms only being easily distinguishable.
Oriolus nigripennis.
Oriolus nigripennis, Verr. J. f. O. 1855, p. 105 Gaboon ; Sharpe, Ibis,
1870, p. 228, pl. 7, fig. i. Shelley and Buckley, Ibis, 1872, p. 288
Abouri ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 220 (1877); Shelley, B. Afr. I.
No. 574 (1896) ; Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 661 (1903); Kemp, Ibis,
1905, p. 247 Bo.
Adult. Like O. larvatus and O. brachyrhynchus in colouring, with the
exception of the wings and tail; wings black and yellow with no grey;
primary-coverts black with no broad white ends; primaries with less
strongly marked white edges; tail uniform black with yellow ends to the
feathers, narrow on the centre ones and broadening out toward the outer
feathers, which have the end two-fifth bright yellow. Iris red; bill pale
brownish red; feet dusky grey. Total length 82 inches, culmen 0:95,
wing 4:8, tail 3:2, tarsus 0-9. Type, W. Afr. (Verr.).
Immature. More like those of O larvatus than of O. brachyrhynchus.
Differs from the adult in having some yellow on the edges of the black
feathers of the forehead and crown; feathers of throat black with broad
yellow edges; centre tail-feathers with an olive yellow wash on the basal
half. Bill black; wing 4:4. Gold Coast (Kirby).
The Black-winged Black-headed Oriole ranges from Sierra
Leone into Loango, and eastward to the Niam-Niam country.
20 ORIOLUS NIGRIPENNIS
Its occurrence so far west as Sierra Leone formerly rested
on a specimen in the late Lord Walden’s collection, so it is
interesting to find it again met with in that district by Mr.
Robin Kemp, who procured a pair in February, 1904, at Bo.
It is moderately plentiful throughout the Gold Coast, and
is represented in the British Museum from Wassaw (Blissett),
Fantee (Higgins), and Cape Coast (Ussher). I and Buckley
considered it to be abundant in the Aguapin district, and
met with it in company with O. brachyrhynchus at Abouri.
Mr. Boyd Alexander writes: “This Oriole inhabits the same
localities as O. brachyrhynchus, but is not so common.” He
also remarks that its cry “lu-lu,”’ “breaks at intervals the
distant silence, while close to the traveller, the hurried notes
of the Babbling Thrush (Cossypha verticalis) comes from
the cool depths of the forest thicket.” In Togoland Mr.
Baumann obtained the species at Misahdhe Station, but,
like O. brachyrhynchus, I do not find it yet recorded from
the country between Togoland and Camaroons.
In Camaroons the species has been procured at Buea,
Bipimbi, Mann’s Well and Efulen. The type of the species
which is in the British Museum came from Gaboon, and here,
according to the Brothers Verreaux, it arrives towards the
middle of October, and, in pairs, frequents the large forests
which abound with berries and caterpillars. In Loango,
specimens have been procured at Chinchonxo in April by
Falkenstein, and at Landana in May by Lucan and Petit,
and I should doubt its being migratory in its habits, as
Verreaux implies.
In its most eastern known range it has been obtained
by Bohndorff in Sassa, about 4° 30° N. lat. by 26° E. long.
“SI1}SOdUISS'B.LO SNITOTLO)
ITX Id WOIGAV AO SQUYIG AHL
ORIOLUS CRASSIROSTRIS 21
Oriolus crassirostris (Pl. 43).
Oriolus crassirostris, Hartl. Orn. W. Afr. p. 266 (1857) St. Thomas Isl. ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 217 (1877); Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 575
(1896) ; Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 662 (1903); Bocage, Jorn. Lisb.
1904, p. 77.
Adult. Entire head, upper neck and throat black; remainder of the neck
yellowish white, passing into ashy yellow on the back; upper ta‘l-coverts
slightly yellower; two centre tail-feathers dusky shaded olive yellow, with
pale yellowish terminal margins; remainder of tail black, with pale yellow
ends broadest on the outer feathers where the yellow extends over the end
third; wings dusky black, strongly washed with grey on the coyerts and
outer webs of the secondaries, and shaded with yellow towards the
scapulars; quills with the outer and terminal margins white, broadest
towards the ends of the feathers; inner margins of basal half of quills
white; under wing-coverts slightly mottled with black, otherwise white
like the breast and thighs, with an obsolete yellow tinge towards the neck
and flanks; under tail-coverts whitish yellow. Iris red; bill pale brownish
red; feet pale grey. Total length 9:3 inches, culmen 1:1, wing 5:0, tail 3°9,
tarsus 1:1. g 4.88. Angolares (Newton).
Immature. Differs in having no blacks on the head; forehead, crown,
sides of head and back of neck dusky brown obscurely streaked with paler
and yellower sides to the feathers; chin, throat and breast white, with
dusky black shaft stripes on the crop and chest. Bill more dusky. Wing
46. 9, 8.89. St. Micquel (Newton).
The Stout-billed, Black-headed Oriole is confined to the
Island of St. Thomas.
This remarkable species of Oriole is very abundant
throughout the island (Bocage, Jorn. Lisb. 1904, p. 77). The
type was discovered by Weiss, and this is all the information
I can find regarding the species, which, no doubt, like the
other Ethiopian Orioles, frequent the forests and suspend
eraceful, cup-shaped nests in the thick foliaged trees, at some
distance from the ground, and live on the large caterpillars,
insects and fruit, which such localities supply them with in
abundance.
22 STURNIDZ
Family 11. STURNIDAL.
Form somewhat Thrush-like, but the shape of the tail is more variable ;
upper parts generally strongly glossed with metallic shades; rarely any
yellow on the feathers, which colour when present, as in Cosmopsarius
regius, is confined to the under parts.
Bill black, brown, red or yellow, not very stout, rarely any notch on
the upper mandible ; no rictal bristles. Wing of ten primaries ; fairly long,
but when closed never reaching to the end of the tail. Tail of twelve
feathers, square or graduated. Tarsus moderate, generally longer than the
culmen. Plumage usually strongly glossed with blue or green in adult,
and streaked or blotched in young bird.
In their habits they are gregarious, frequenting mostly the open country
to feed on insects, slugs and worms, and at times upon fruit, when it is ripe.
Breed in holes of trees, cliffs, kc., and more rarely among the boughs of
trees. Eggs, generally five in a clutch, are usually uniform pale blue, but
are occasionally spotted and very rarely white.
The family is confined to the Eastern Hemisphere and comprises some
150 species, of which I here record 57. Of these, three are now extinct,
two are introductions from the Indo-Malay Regions and one (the Common
Starling) from England.
KEY TO THE SUBFAMILIKS.
a. Hind claw weaker than the claw of the middle toe ; all the
claws similarly bent into nearly perfect semicircles ; bill red
or red and yellow . oe eah cpio ear Buphagine.
b. Hind claw stronger than the claw of the middle toe; no red
on the bill, 34s sa OE Av ee ec SCR PLE Ce
Subfamily I. BUPHAGIN A‘.
Bill red, or yellow with the end red, strong and broad at the base, with
the culmen slightly depressed and curved at the tip; lower mandible short
not reaching to the tip of the bill; nostrils exposed and rounded. Wing
long and pointed. Tail shorter than the wing, but fairly long and wedge-
shaped, with the end of each feather pointed. Tarsi strong, of the same
length as the middle toe; lateral toes equal in length, the cuter one united
to the middle one by a membrane, inner one free; claws much compressed,
curved and acute; hind claw not so strong as that of the middle toe.
The subfamily is confined to Africa and comprises only two species,
which belong to one genus.
BUPHAGA AFRICANA 23
Genus BUPHAGA.
Type.
Buphaga, Linn. 8. N. i. p. 154 (1766). . . | . B. africana.
KEY TO THE SPECIRS.
a. Bill yellow, with the end red; rump and upper tail-
coverts ochraceous buff . .. =... .. =. =. . africana.
b. Bill entirely red; rump and upper tail-coverts greyish
brown, paler towards the back . . . . . . . . . erythrorhyncha.
Buphaga africana.
Buphaga africana, Linn. 8. N. I. p. 154 (1766) Senegal ; Gray, Gen. B. ii.
p. 332, pl. 82 (1847) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 195 (1890); Shelley,
B. Afr. I. No. 576 (1896) ; Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 666 (1903).
Le Pique-boeuf, Levaill. Ois. Afr. ii, p. 198, pl. 97 (1799) Great Namaqua.
Adult. General plumage brown, shading into sandy buff on the lower
half of the back, tail-coverts and breast; a shade of rufous on the inner
webs of the outer four pairs of tail-feathers. ‘Iris yellowish red; bill yellow,
with the end portion red; feet black” (Buckley). Total length 9:3 inches,
culmen 0°7, wing 5:0, tail 4:0, tarsus 0-9. ¢, 25. 6. 67, Ovaquenyana
(Andersson) and ?, 23. 9. 73, Matabele (Buckley), wing 4:7.
The Yellow-billed Ox-pecker ranges over Africa, south from
about 18° N. lat., with the exception of the forest districts
of West Africa, Cape Colony and the country eastward of a
line drawn from the middle Zambesi to Lake Tana.
The habits of this species and of B. erythrorhyncha are
alike, and have been well described by Stark, as follows:
“ This species is not so common near the coast of Natal and
East Africa, as the Red-billed Ox-pecker, and appears to
follow the larger game in their retreat before civilised man.
It more particularly favours the buffalo and rhinoceros with
its company, and the majority of ‘big-game’ hunters have
noticed this partiality. Mr. Andersson remarks in his
-
24 BUPHAGA AFRICANA
‘Lake N’gami,’ that this bird ‘is also a frequent companion
of the rhinoceros, to which, besides being of service in ridding
him of many of the insects that infest his hide, it performs
the important part of sentinel. On many occasions has this
watchful bird prevented me from getting a shot at that beast ;
the moment it suspects danger it flies almost perpendicularly
up into the air, uttering sharp shrill notes that never fail to
attract the attention of the rhinoceros, who, without waiting
to ascertain the cause, almost instantly seeks safety in a
precipitate flight.’
“Mr. Ayres also writes: ‘This species is a pest to the
hunter, of whose approach it warns the buffalo and rhinoceros
by its loud harsh note, which is perfectly understood by its
huge friends.’
“ According to Mr. J. G. Millais, who gives a most excellent
account of this species, accompanied by five drawings, in his
delightful “A Breath from the Veldt,’ the Rhinoceros Bird
attaches itself most frequently to the rhinoceros, the Cape
buffalo, the sable antelope, and the water-hog, as well as the
koodoo. He writes: ‘The prehensile power of the claws is, as
I found by experience, so great, that when a dead bird which
had grown stiff was thrown on to the back or sides of an ox, so
that the feet touched the animal’s hide, the claws held fast
at once, and could not be easily withdrawn. It is most
interesting to notice the way in which a party of these birds
will move about on the body of a horse or ox, searching every
part of him as they run or hop over it in the most lively
fashion. At the risk of being accused of telling a traveller’s
yarn, I must state the fact they can hop backwards quite as
well as forwards, and they often make long hops downwards
from the shoulders to the foreleg, or down the side of the
animal, whose coat they are engaged upon. It is quite
immaterial to them how or in what direction they move.’
BUPHAGA AFRICANA 25
“When the Rhinoceros Bird wishes to alarm an animal
of the approach of danger, they rise for 20 or 30 feet,
and fly round in a series of small circles, uttering harsh
scolding notes, which much resemble those of the European
Missel Thrush. On this signal a wild animal at once takes
to flight, but an ox as a rule takes no notice, much to the
indignation and horror of the birds, who sometimes become
perfectly frantic in their endeavours to stampede the beast,
flying wildly at his face and eyes, while screaming their
loudest. Curiously enough, all this alarm on the part of the
Ox-birds seems to be on account of the animals on whose
hide they have been searching for food, for they themselves
are among the tamest of birds, frequently allowing one to
walk within a few paces of them without evincing any alarm
whatever. These Starlings not only rid the animals they
frequent, of ticks and other vermin, but they often peck at
sores on oxen and donkeys until they form cavities, which
measure sometimes 2 inches or more in diameter, and as
much in depth: they actually do eat the flesh and drink the
blood of these animals. Oxen submit quite placidly to this
process of being eaten alive, and seem none the worse for it
afterwards, but donkeys show their objections by trying to
rid themselves of the birds, by rolling on the ground and
running under bushes.
“The Yellow-billed Ox-pecker builds an untidy-looking
nest in the natural hollow of a tree. On a foundation of
straws and pieces of dried grass a thick pad of hairs is formed,
and on this four or five very pale bluish white eggs are
deposited. They average 1°15 xX 0°90.”
With regard to its range, the species is apparently
abundant throughout Senegambia; Dr. P. Rendall writes
from the Gambia: “Common and noisy, but difficult to
shoot, as they will not leave the backs of the cattle. Besides
26 BUPHAGA AFRICANA
the parasites thereon, they seem also very partial to the
lacrymal secretions of these animals.” Mr. Budgett also calls
it common on McCarthy Island. It has not been recorded
from the country between Senegambia and the Niger, but
this may be accounted for by the scarcity of cattle and the
forest character of these parts, for it is not uncommon in the
Niger and White Nile districts. Following its range south-
ward, it has been procured by Marche and De Compiégne in
Gaboon, Toulson obtained it in Angola, and according to
Monteiro the species is “abundant all over Angola, which,
generally speaking, abounds in cattle.” Monteiro’s specimen
came from the neighbourhood of the town of Benguela, and
his Angola possibly refers to that country, where it has been
obtained by Anchieta at several places, and according to his
notes is known at Benguela and Capangombe as the “ Loando.”
In Damaraland these Starlings are rare, and I cannot trace
their range further south in Western Africa.
From Zululand and Central Natal northward, it is fairly
plentiful. In Zululand the Messrs. Woodward found this
species much rarer than B. erythrorhyncha, only meeting
with it in the Umbegamusa district, which lies between the
Black and White Umfulosi Rivers. E. C. Buxton writes
from Suariland, a little to the north of Natal: “The two
Buphagas I shot at the same time on some oxen, one of
each off the same cow, and I could not distinguish them on
the wing. There were several shot at the time, and in the
proportion of one of the red-billed birds to two of the others.”
Buckley writes: “Common in the Transvaal right up
into the Matabele country. This bird is a great nuisance
at times to cattle, from its habit of pecking holes in them;
they run over a bullock as easily as a Woodpecker on a tree,
picking out the ticks which infest them. Over a bullock’s
back you may see three or four of these birds’ heads
—
BUPHAGA AFRICANA 27
reconnoitering you on your approach ; so tame are they that
the one in question was killed by one of our natives, with
a stick, from a horse’s back. This species is continually with
the rhinoceros, and when the animal is disturbed, the birds
hover over it as it runs, keeping up a continual twitter.” Mr.
Guy Marshall writes: “Fairly common in Mashonaland,
though I have seen but few round Salisbury. In South
Africa the species is known to the English colonists as
the “'Tick-bird” and “ Rhinoceros-bird,”’ by the Dutch as
the “Rhinaster Végel,” and by the Matabeles as the
“ Umblanda.”
The species has not been recorded from the Zambesi nor
from Central British Africa, but specimens have been collected
at Ulundi (Trotha), north-east of Lake Tanganyika ; Bukoba
(Stuhlmann); Kibiro, Lado, Makraka and Buesa (Emin);
Port Rek, Lake Tana, Galabat, Mareb and Taka (Heuglin).
The late Sir Samuel Baker, in his “ Albert Nyanza, Great
Basin of the Nile,” i. p. 107, writes: “It is a perfect pest
to the animals, and positively eats them into holes. The
original object of the bird in settling upon the animal is to
search for vermin; but it is not contented with the mere
insects, and industriously pecks holes in all parts of the
animal, more especially on the back. I was obliged to hire
little boys to watch the donkeys, and to drive off the plagues ;
but so determined and bold were these birds, that I have
constantly seen them run under the body of the donkey,
clinging to the belly with their feet, and thus retreating to
the opposite side of the animals when chased by the
watch-boys. In a few days my animals were full of
wounds, excepting the horses, whose long tails were effectual
whisks.”’
28 BUPHAGA ERYTHRORHYNCHA
Buphaga erythrorhyncha.
Tanagra erythrorhyncha, Stanley, in Salt’s Tray. Abyss. App. p. 59
(1814) Abyssinia. <
Buphaga erythrorhyncha, Temm. Pl. Col. ii. pl. 465 (1828); Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 196 (1890); Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 577 (1896) ;
Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 667 (1903); Grant, Ibis, 1904, p. 255
Gallaland ; Clarke, t. c. p. 525 Natal ; Sparrow, Journ. S. Afr. O. U.
i. p. 9 (1905) S. Africa; A. L. Butler, Ibis, 1905, p. 323 Soudan ;
Neum. J. f. O. 1905, p. 237; Erlanger, t. c. p. 705 N. H. Afr.
Buphaga habessinica, Hemp. and Ehr. Symb. Phys. Fol. W. pl. 9 (1828).
Adult. General plumage brown gradually shading into sandy buff on the
breast and under tail-coverts. Ivis red; eyelids yellow; bill entirely red;
feet reddish brown. Total length 8-2 inches, culmen 0:7, wing 4°, tail 3°6,
tarsus 0:8. g, 17. 2. 01, Goraboutha (Pease), and 9, 19. 6. 76, Swaziland
(T. E. Buckley), wing 4°6.
Immature. Similar to the adult, but slightly darker on the head and
neck. Iris brown; eyelids pale yellow; bill dusky reddish; feet black.
Wing 4:6; 21. 3. 74, Durban (Shelley).
The Red-billed Ox-pecker ranges over Hastern Africa from
Natal to 17° N. lat., and westward through the White Nile
district into Senegambia.
Little is known regarding the species in Western Africa,
Marche and De Compiégne collected specimens at Dakar,
Mbao and Deine, and Hartlaub records others in Verreaux’s
collection from Cassamanse, Bissao and Gaboon. According
to Dr. Sharpe (Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 420), Anchieta has met
with the species at Catumbella in Benguela, but I do not
know on what authority he made that statement.
When I was in Natal these birds were common about
Durban and Pinetown, where they might be seen climbing all
over the cattle in search of parasites. On approaching a
flock thus engaged, they quickly moved to the backs of the
animals, where they sat im rows just before taking flight.
On leaving they rise for some 50 or 60 feet, and then fly
BUPHAGA ERYTHRORHYNCHA 29
straight away. My friend, Mr. T. L. Ayres, told me he used
to tie slip-knots in the tails of the horses and found it a very
effective way of catching these birds. A young caged bird he
had was very tame, always flying towards anyone who came
near, and chattered most loudly if not taken notice of.
Starke writes: “The Red-billed is the commonest ‘Tick
Bird’ on the coast of Natal and East Africa, its place further
inland being taken to a large extent by its congener, Buphaga
africana. In the lower parts of Natal it is resident, and in
pastoral districts is nearly always to be seen in small flocks,
either seated on the backs of oxen or horses, climbing, Wood-
pecker-like, over their sides, or flying round them with harsh
cries resembling those of the Huropean Missel Thrush. Occa-
sionally they perch on trees, seldom or never on the ground.
Livingstone, however, states that he met with the species
together with Buphaga africana, roosting in reeds in localities
where neither wild nor tame animals were found (‘ Missionary
Travels,’ p. 546). When seated on the back of an animal
these Ox-peckers rest on the whole tarsus, with head
thrown back and bill pointing upwards at an angle; if
endangered by the sweep of their host’s tail they flatten them-
selves still more and allow it to brush lightly over, or jump
nimbly out of the way. Their food consists almost entirely of
ticks taken from the bodies of various animals, donkeys being
special favourites. Should they, however, find an animal
with a sore back they are apt to peck at and irritate the
wounds, perhaps for the sake of the blood, which they drink
as it oozes from the raw surfaces, but I have never known the
Red-billed Ox-pecker eat out the’deep holes that the yellow-
billed species sometimes does. The same individual birds
frequently attach themselves to particular animals. A donkey
at Pinetown in Natal, was constantly attended by four of
these birds, who, in return for their services in keeping her
30 BUPHAGA ERYTHRORHYNCHA
free from ticks, were in the habit of drinking blood from sores
which they kept open for that purpose behind the ears. Their
nests also were lined entirely with hairs pulled from the
donkey’s coat ; in collecting these the birds showed a certain
amount of ingenuity, the individual hairs as they were pulled
out being placed end to end on the donkey’s back until neat
bundles were accumulated, as large as they could conveniently
carry; these were then carried to their nests under the roof
of a house. In unsettled districts these birds build in the
holes of trees, but in more civilised parts usually under the
roofs of houses. ‘The nest is an untidy structure of straw and
erass lined with the hair of various animals. ‘The eges, three
to five in number, are of a uniform pale bluish-white colour.
They average 1°12 x 0°85.” According to Major Sparrow,
“This species also nests in stone walls, and the eggs are of
a white ground covered with dark pink spots and_ blotches.
It nests from November to January.”
In Zululand the Messrs. Woodward observe ( “ Ibis,” 1877,
p. 416): “Numerous here, and were a great nuisance to one
of the beasts who had a bad sore;” and further remark :
“The cow seems to recognise the Ox-pecker as a friend, rather
encouraging its attentions than otherwise.”
The species is abundant and very generally distributed
throughout the eastern half of Tropical and South Africa; it
is represented in the British Museum from Durban, Pinetown,
Olifant River, Swaziland, Mpimbi, Machako’s, Kitui, Row-
wah, Gedais, Gourabourta, Angollala, Anseba, Senafé, Maragaz
and Ailet, and has also been recorded from some fifty inter-
mediate stations along this line and the Nile valley.
According to Dr. Stuhlmann, the species is known by the
natives at Karogwe, near Pangani, as the ‘“ T'schassi,’”’ and
Mr. Lort Phillips mentions “ Hoorie”’ as its Somali name.
Speke found them common in Somaliland, and wrote: “ They
STURNINZ 31
feed chiefly on lice and ticks, which they find on cattle, and
are very annoying to camels who are galled by carrying
baggage, by pecking at and preventing their sores from
healing ; five or six are generally to be seen clinging to one
animal at once. When cattle are sound in skin they seem
to enjoy being cleansed by these birds.”
In Northern Abyssinia, according to Dr. Blanford (Geol.
and Zool., Abyss., p. 402), it is “found both on the highland
and near the coast. It is much more abundant in the former.”
It is apparently rare in the Egyptian Soudan, for Mr. A. L.
Butler observed it only at Jebel Ahmed Aga on the White
Nile, when creeping up to buffaloes in thick bush.
Subfamily Il. STURNIN AS.
Bill never red nor red and yellow. Feet adapted for running on the
ground, the claws being only moderately curved, and the hind one the
longest. They often breed in colonies in trees and cliffs, usually, but not
always, selecting holes for the reception of their nests, and assemble in
large flocks after the breeding season in the open country to feed on insects,
snails and worms, also on fruit when it is ripe.
It is doubtful if all the genera entered in the Catalogue of the Birds in
the British Museum, vol. xiii., can be recognised. If we unite Chalcopsar,
with its one species, CU. australis, to either Lamprotornis or Lamprocolius,
we have scarcely any character left for separating Lamprocolius, Sundey.,
1835, from Lamprotornis, Temm., 1820. The genus Lamprotornis of my
following key presents four other fairly marked groups: (1) with a large
angular notch on the inner webs of the primaries, and a slight graduation
of the tail, includes L. ornatus, L. spendidus and L. chrysonotus ; (2)
Heteropsar, Sharpe, for L. acwticaudus, with a decidedly wedge-shaped tail ;
(3) Lamprocolius, Sundey., type L. phenicopterus, with the tail square, and
the feathers fairly broad ; (4) Coccycolius, Oust., with its one species, C. ivs,
is distinguished by the narrow tail-feathers and the peculiar strong metallic
gloss resembling that of the Golden Cuckoos. These forms collectively
constitute one very natural group, to which Spreo is most nearly allied.
The latter genus comprises two groups: (1) Those with the abdomen
white, including the typical species, S. bicolor, have the tail slightly longer
and more graduated, and the outstretched feet not reaching to the tip of
32 STURNIN
the tail as it does in group 2, which includes all the rufous breasted
species.
On coming to the Chestnut-winged Starlings, which are all readily
distinguishable by the large amount of rufous on the wings, which are
alike in both sexes, we find that the thirteen known forms, including
three subspecies, belonging to this group, have been separated into six
genera, of which Onychognathus, Hartl., 1849, with the type O. fulgidus,
is the oldest, then Pyrrhochira, Reichenb., 1850, Amydrus, Cab. 1851
following; the other three genera are represented by single species. It
appears to me to be undoubtedly an advantage to science to include these
species in one genus, as Blanford has forcibly expressed as his opinion, in
the “Geol. and Zool. Abyss. p. 401 (1870), and which I have followed by
placing all these Chestnut-winged Starlings under their one oldest generic
name, Onychognathus.
KEY TO THE GENERA.
a. Head and neck never white or ashy when the under
parts are white.
a’. Head and neck entirely feathered; tarsi and feet
never yellow.
a?, Feathers of head and neck rounded.
a’. Tarsi and feet pink ; plumage mostly isabelline,
with no gloss. . oe) es enon ee eLeumocolnss
bs ste and feet blackich,
. Tail square, with the centre feathers slightly
the shortest.
a®, Culmen rather long and straighter, about
the length of the tarsus. . . . . Hartlaubius.
b5, Culmen rather short and more curved. ates Cinnyricintelus.
b+. Tail, with the centre feathers longer than the
outer ones ; plumage glossed.
c®, Basal portion of primaries white, forming a
distinct speculum on the closed wing. . . Speculipastor.
d®, No white showing on the closed wing.
a*, Plumage of sexes alike. No rufous on
the wings, unless the breast and under
tail-coverts are rufous.
a’. Tail longer than the wing, and with
the end portion of centre feather only
0:5 inch wide; breast yellow or ashy
bROWN; 2 <* | fr a Lee) Cosmo psariictes
>
hil
HYPOCOLIUS
b7. Tail-feathers all broad to their ends,
when the tail is longer than the wing.
a’. Breast and under tail-coverts black
or strongly glossed with green, blue,
violet or bronze, at least in adults.
68. Breast and under tail-coverts white
or chestnut. Tail shorter than the
wing. fi, AZ La Mee tae
b®. Plumage of sexes generally dissimilar ;
some rufous on the wings in the female ;
breast and under tail-coverts neither
white nor rufous.
ce’, Larger; wings alike in both sexes
d’. Smaller, wing less than 4:5 inches;
primaries entirely blackish in the males.
b?. Feathers of the head and neck lanceolate .
bt, Head and neck not entirely feathered.
ce, A bare track of skin down the sides of the throat
or the entire head bare and wattled . #8
d?. No portion of the throat bare ; bill and feet yellow.
c%. Feathers of crown lanceolate ; bare skin on head
next to the eye oS pin SS ben | Bonen
d’, Feathers of crown not lanceolate ; bare portion
of head forms yellow lappets on sides of crown .
b. Head and neck white or pale grey, and the under parts
white ; bill and feet yellow (extinct).
ct. With long crest-feather of loose texture
d*. No crest ; plumage almost entirely white
HYPOCOLIUS.
Genus I.
33
Lamprotornis.
Spreo.
Onychognathus.
Peaopterus.
Sturnus.
Cheatophora. /t-/
Acridotheres.
Mainatus.
Fregilupus.
Necropsar.
Bill pink, with the end black, broader than deep; culmen curved; upper
mandible with a slight notch near the end; nasal aperture rounded and
exposed. Wing shorter than the tail; distance between the tip of the
secondaries and end of wing less than the length of the tarsus; primaries,
one small, not reaching to the end of the primary-coyerts, three and four
longest.
0-5 inch. Tarsi, feet and claws pink.
Hypocolius, Bp. Consp. i. p. 336 (1850)
(January, 1906,
Tail rounded, the outer feathers falling short of the centre ones by
Type.
HT. ampelinus.
3
Bd HYPOCOLIUS AMPELINUS
Hypocolius ampelinus.
Hypocolius ampelinus, Bp. Consp. i. p. 336 (1850) ; Heugl. Ibis, 1868,
p- 181, pl. 5; Hartl. Bericht. p. 125 (1868) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii.
p. 316 (1877); Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 578 (1896); Sharpe, Hand.
B. iv. p. 275 (1903); Reichen. V6g. Afr. ili. p. 677 (1905).
Ceblepyris isabellina, Heugl. Syst. Uebers. p. 32 (1855).
Adult male. Upper parts mostly uniform pale pearl grey, of a more
sandy buff shade on the top of the head, which is surrounded with black,
very narrow in front and on the side of the forehead, but widens out over
the sides of the head, with the exception of the cheeks, and extends in a
broad band across the back of the head; tail-feathers with broad black ends,
primaries black with broad white ends to the nine long feathers; most of
the secondaries have a large amount of black on their inner webs, which
cause the under surface of the wing to be blackish in the middle, white
towards the end and pale grey on the coverts which incline to buff near the
bend of the wing; cheeks, chin, throat, centre of breast and under tail-
coverts pale sandy buff of a greyer shade on the lower throat, front of chest
and the flanks. Iris brown; bill pink with the end black; tarsi, feet and
claws pink. Total length 9:6 inches, culmen 0-55, wing 3°95, tail 4-6,
tarsus 0°95. 3, 30. 3.91. Fao (Cumming).
Adult female. Differs in being uniform sandy buff, darker above than
below, with no black on the head aud less black at end of tail; primaries
pale ashy brown, shading into blackish brown towards the ends of the
feathers, which have narrow white terminal margins. Wing 3°9, tail 4-1.
?, 29. 6. 86. Fao (Cumming).
Immature. Resemble in colouring the sex to which they belong, with
the exception of the black on the head being absent in the males as well as
in the females. Fao (Cumming).
The Pink-billed Starling ranges from the White Nile east-
ward into Southern Central Asia.
In the British Museum there is a specimen labelled
“White Nile” (Verreaux), and I doubt the species ranging
further west, for Count Salvadori (‘‘Ibis,” 1870, p. 539)
observes that the specimen in the Turin Museum is one of
Botta’s collecting, and was not obtained in the Niam-Niam
country, by Piaggia, as stated by Hartlaub.
The species was discovered by Botta in 1839, and three
HYPOCOLIUS AMPELINUS 35
of his specimens in the Paris Museum are believed to have
been obtained at Sennaar; it has also been received from
Abyssinia in a collection made by M. de Goutin while he
was Consul at Massowa. This is all that is known with
regard to the species in Africa.
It has been recorded by Lieutenant H. HE. Barnes as
having been seen near Aden, and probably its true home is
Arabia, from whence it migrates eastward and westward
according to the season.
With regard to its habits I may extract the following
from Mr. Cumming’s notes made near Fao at the northern
extremity of the Persian Gulf (“ Ibis,” 1866, pp. 478-480).
Arriving from §.E., the first flock of six passed over the
telegraph building, April 10. It is not till the middle of June
that they breed, first eges were found on the 13th of that
month, and young, just able to fly, on July the 2nd. The nests
are generally placed on the leaves of the date-palm, usually
at 3 to 5 feet from the ground; they are substantial and
cup-shaped, about 3°5 inches wide by 2°5 deep, lined inside
with fine grass, soft fluff from the willow when in seed, wool
and sometimes hair. The eggs, generally four in number,
“are of a glossy leaden white, with leaden coloured blotches
and spots towards the larger end, sometimes forming a ring
round the larger end, and at times spreading over the entire
ege.”
A live specimen he sent to the Zoological Gardens, London,
he brought up by hand from the nest (P. Z. 5. 1890, p. 147,
pl. 15), “ having been first fed on bread and water, and after-
wards on dates and other fruits. It would also take flies,
erubs and grasshoppers, as well as dry bread, bread steeped
in sugar and water, and was delighted in having a little
lucerne occasionally.”
They measure on an average 0'86 X 65.
36 HARTLAUBIUS AURATUS
Genus Il. HARTLAUBIUS.
Bill black, slender and rather long, as long as the tarsus, culmen slightly
curved ; nasal aperture rounded and situated in the fore part of the nasal-
groove, with a posterior rather than a superior membrane. Wing longer
than the tail; primaries, one small, not reaching beyond the primary coverts
and is shorter than the culmen; three and four longest. Tail square, with
the centre feathers slightly the shortest; tarsi, feet and claws black, the
latter rather strong and curyed.
Type.
Hartlaubius, Bp. C. R. xxxvii. p. 830 (1853). . . . . . A. aurata.
The genus is confined to the Island of Madagascar and comprises only
one species.
Hartlaubius auratus.
Turdus auratus, P. L. 8. Mill. 8S. N. Suppl. p. 140 (1776) Madagascar.
Turdus madagascariensis, Bodd. Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 32 (1783).
Hartlaubius madagascariensis, Milne, Edw. and Grand. Hist. Madag. Ois.
i, p. 311; Atlas, ii. pls. 115, 113, B. figs. 3, 116 (1879); Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xiii. p. 120 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 579 (1896).
Acridotheres gracilirostris, Drap. Dict. Class. vii. p. 152 (1841).
Madagascar Thrush, Lath. Gen. Syn. ii. pt. 1, p. 68 (1780).
Adult male. Entire head and throat uniform dark brown, remainder
of the neck and the back rather paler brown shading into glossy green
towards the ends of the tail-coverts; tail blackish brown washed with a
green gloss strongest on the centre feathers, outermost web on each side
broadly margined with white; least and median wing-coverts brown, the
latter slightly glossed with green and with some white next to the bend
of the wing; remainder of wing dusky black with broad white edges to
most of the primaries, the outer quills with glossy blue edges like the
greater wing-covert excepting the inner one which shades into the brown
of the scapulars and has a green gloss on the inner web; a small coppery
bronze patch on the greater coverts; under wing-covert and portion of
the inner webs of the quills white; sides of lower throat, front of chest
and the flanks rufous shaded brown; centre of chest, abdomen and
under tail-coverts white. “Iris brown; bill and feet black’ (Grandidier).
Total length 7-7 inches, culmen 0°75, wing 4:2, tail 3:0, tarsus 0°85.
Antouzil Bay (Verr.).
Adult female. Differs from the male in the dark parts being of a
more uniform dull brown, with a very slight greenish gloss on the tail,
CINNYRICINCLUS 37
terminal portion of inner webs of the quills and the outer webs of the
greater wing-coverts and inner primaries, and there is much’ less white
on the quills. Wing 3-9, tail 2-7. 9, Madagascar (Crossley).
The Madagascar Starling is confined to the Island of
Madagascar.
According to M. Grandidier’s notes, these Starlings are
restricted to the east and north-eastern portion of Madagascar,
the dry, sandy soil of the western side of the island not suiting
them. It is an essentially social bird, living in flocks of
sometimes a hundred or more, but generally averaging ten
to a dozen individuals; however, during the nesting season,
the males are liable to quarrel. They mostly frequent the
open country, especially near streams, and follow the flocks
of cattle, perching upon their backs or searching for their
food upon the ground, for they feed like our Common Starling,
upon all descriptions of insects, and occasionally upon fruit
and grain. They are not shy, have a powerful, rather heavy
flight, and roost among the boughs of trees. He calls their
flesh fairly good eating.
They leave the open country for the woodlands on the
approach of the breeding season to seek for suitable places
to build in, and are not to be met with near the sea-shore
during the rainy season, at least, from November to March.
The ege is pale blue, with variable sized spots of brownish
red mostly towards the thick end, and measure 0°92 x 0°68.
On account of their frequenting the cattle they are called
by the natives “ Vorontianomby ” (friend of cattle).
Genus II]. CINNYRICINCLUS.
Bill black, short, wide at the gape, and the culmen rather strongly
eurved. Wing much longer than the tail, pointed; third primary longest,
or equal in length to the second and fourth. Tail square with the centre
feathers slightly the shortest. Tarsi, feet and claws black.
38 CINNYRICINCLUS LEUCOGASTER
Type.
Cinnyricinclus, Less-Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 272 . . . . C. leucogaster.
Pholidanges, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 198 (1851) . . . , leucogaster.
Pholia, Reichen. Orn. Monatsb. 1900, pygoee a eC shanper:
The genus is confined to Tropical and South Africa, and comprises
five species.
KEY TO THE SPECIES.
a. No spots or stripes on the under parts.
at. Breast and under tail-coverts white.
a*, Head, neck and back rich metallic violet.
a°. No white on outer tail-feathers. . . . leucogaster, 3, ad.
63. A white outer edge tothe tail. . . . . verreauxi, g, ad.
b*, Head, neck and back not rich metaltic
violet.
c’. Head, neck and back silvery grey . . . fischeri.
d*. Head, neck and back bluish black . . . femoralis.
b', Breast and under tail-coverts pale cinnamon ;
throat white. . . . o° . Sharper.
b. Some stripes or spots on the under parts.
ct. Upper parts rufous-shaded brown, some broad
pale cinnamon inner edges to the quills . . leucogaster and ver-
reauxt, @, and juv.
d'. Upper parts more sooty brown, often with a
bluish sloss= 2 eae eee Sune Em per mi tive
Cinnyricinclus leucogaster.
Turdus leucogaster, Gm. S. N. ii. p. 819 (1788) Whidah.
Cinnyricinclus leucogaster, Reichen. Vég. Afr. ii. p. 679 (1903); Kemp,
Ibis, 1905, p. 246 Sierra Leone; Neum. J. f. O. 1905, p. 237;
Erlanger, t. c. p. 707 N. H. Afr.
Lamprotornis leucogaster, Swains. B. W. Afr. i. p. 152, pl. 8 (1837).
Pholidauges leucogaster, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 121 (1890); Shelley,
B. Afr. I. No. 580 (1896).
Adult male. Entire head, neck, back and upper tail-coverts brilliantly
glossed with broad violet ends to the feathers, and most of the feathers on
the back have subterminal steel blue bars; tail blackish brown, with the
centre feathers and portion of the outer webs of the others glossy violet ;
wings brownish black, with nearly the whole of the coverts and inner
secondaries glossy violet like the back; under wing-coverts with a few white
CINNYRICINCLUS LEUCOGASTER 39
edges near the bend of the wing; crop, under surface of body and the under
tail-coverts pure white passing into dusky ash on the flanks, with a few
blackish stripes on the neighbouring white feathers. Iris yellow; bill and
feet black. Total length 7-1 inches, culmen 0:5, wing 4:2, tail 2-6, tarsus 0-8.
Mensa (Hsler).
Adult female. Upper parts and sides of head brown, with pale edges to
the feathers; the nine long primaries, with a large portion of their inner
webs pale cinnamon; the small first primary and the under wing-coverts
brown, the latter somewhat mottled with pale cinnamon and buff edges;
under parts white with a very slight sandy tinge on the throat and nearly all
the feathers spotted or striped with dark brown. Wing 3:95, Mensa (Hsler).
Immature of both sexes. Like the adult female, but the pale edges of the
feathers of the upper parts generally broader and more rufous. In the moult
of the males the feathers do not change their colour, but are shed. This
is well shown in one of Kirby's specimens from the Gold Coast. On each
wing the two outer long primaries are in the rufous stage, the next quill
being half grown and uniform black like the other quills.
The Northern Violet-backed Starling ranges over Tropical
Africa from 17° N. lat. to Gaboon, on the west, and to the
Equator in Central and Eastern Africa.
In West Africa the species is known to range from St.
Louis at the mouth of the Senegal River, into Gaboon, and
is apparently abundant and very evenly distributed over this
part of Africa to the north of 5° N. lat., and is likewise
plentiful in North-east Africa until we approach Somaliland
and the Equator. It meets with its very near ally, C. ver-
reauxt, along its southern range, but we have no reason to
suppose that they ever interbreed, for the amount of white
on the outer webs of the tail, the only distinguishing mark
for C. verreauxi, is very constant.
C. leucogaster has been procured on Bulama, the only
island from whence the species has been recorded. In
Liberia, Mr. Biittikofer met with it most frequently in the
open country, the females and young birds perching together
on the bushes while the full-plumaged males kept by them-
selves at some little distance. During my visit to the Gold
40 CINNYRICINCLUS LEUCOGASTER
Coast I met with the species on a few occasions in February,
between Accra and Abokobi, always in fairly large flocks of
about a score. Ussher writes: “ This bird is widely dis-
tributed over the whole of the Guinea Coast, and is of very
general occurrence on the Gold Coast. It is usually observed
in pairs, and occasionally in some numbers. I have seen the
low bushes in the vicinity of the town of Lagos (on the Slave
Coast) tenanted by them in large quantities, the brilliant
plumage of the male contrasting markedly with the sober
colouring of the female and the pied tints of the immature
birds. They were feeding eagerly on the berries of a descrip-
tion of * wait-a-bit’ thorn, very abundant in some localities of
the Guinea Coast. The male in full plumage, seen flying low
in the bright sunlight, is undoubtedly one of the most
exquisite birds in Africa; and a marked difference in colour
is observable among even full-plumaged males, some haying
coppery or golden reflections on the rich puce colour of the
feathers, whilst others decidedly incline to a deep violet blue
of equal beauty. Their habits appear to be similar to the
Shining Grackles’ in general, and did not present anything
noteworthy to my observation.”
In our Gold Coast Colony Mr. Boyd Alexander obtained
specimens at Gambaga, Krachi and Pong, and writes: “A
migrant in the Hinterland. Small flocks appeared at Gam-
baga in May. According to Captain Giffard, the bird is
again Common there in August.”
Mr. Hartert met with the species at Loko, on the Niger,
in May and July, feeding on fruit. Further south it is
apparently rare, for it is known to me from Camaroons by a
specimen procured by Mr. Zenker at Jaunde; Aubry Lecomte
and Gujon obtained it in Gaboon, and there are specimens in
the British Museum collected by Bohndorff, at Sassa and
Semio, in the Niam-Niam country.
CINNYRICINCLUS VERREAUXI 41
On the eastern side of the continent, the most southern
range known for the species is Nandi; here Mr. Jackson met
with a flock of five or six, “ attracted by the small fruit of a
large tree in the garden.” Mr. Harrison obtained the species
at Lake Margarita and at Bunge, Mr. Pease shot the only one
he saw in Somaliland, at Somadu, and Lord Lovat writes:
“Met with only in the valley of the Blue Nile and its tribu-
taries. I once observed this Starling hawking for flies like
a Bee-eater.” The species has not been recorded from Shoa,
but is apparently as plentiful in Central and Northern Abys-
sinia as on the Gold Coast, and being strong on the wing
they change their quarters according to their requirements,
for Heuglin found them in the lowlands of Semien, along the
Mareb and Takase Rivers, and in Bergemeder up to 9,000 feet.
In May and June they were abundant on the low ground of
the Samhar coast, at the Anseba and in Bogosland in families
of young and old birds. Early in summer he found them
assembled in large flocks, consisting of both young and old
birds in the thick forests between the Gazelle and Kosanga
Rivers.
Cinnyricinclus verreauxi.
Pholidauges verreauxi, Bocage in Finsch and Hartl. Orn. O. Afr. p. 867
(1870) Caconda ; id. Orn. Angola, p. 314, pl. 5 (1881) ; Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xiii. p. 123 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 581 (1896) ; Grant,
Ibis, 1905, p. 201 Uganda.
Cinnyricinclus verreauxi, Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 680 (1903).
Adult male. Similar to that of C. lewcogaster, from which it differs only
in having some white on the outermost pair of tail-feathers; these are
blackish brown, with the basal two-thirds of the outer web white and the
remaining third with a very narrow white edge. Ivis yellow; bill and feet
black. Total length 7:2 inches, culmen 0:55, wing 4:25, tail 2°6, tarsus 0:8.
g, 20. 11. 96, Ravine (Jackson).
Adult females and immature birds. Like those of C. leucogaster.
42 CINNYRICINCLUS VERREAUXI
The Southern Violet-backed Starling ranges in Western
Africa from Loango into Damaraland and throughout Central
and Eastern Africa, from the Orange River Colony and Natal
to about 1° N. lat.
The species has been obtained in Loango by Falkenstein,
Lucan and Petit; by Bohndorff at Leopoldsville on the
Congo, and is generally distributed over Angola, Benguela
and Damaraland. The species was discovered at Caconda
by Anchieta, according to whose notes, it feeds principally
upon fruit, and is known to the natives by the following
variety of names: “ Girde”’ at Biballa, “ Quiro-musole”’ at
Quilleugues, “ Sue-Sue” at Humbe and “ Donga”’ at Caconda.
Chapman wrote: “Common in the Lake regions and in
Damaraland, but here only as a migratory bird. Type.
Corvultur, Less. Traité, p. 327 (1831) . ... . =. . C.albicollis.
Archicorax, Glog. Handb. p. 274 (1842). . . . . . « GC. albicollis.
The genus is confined to Tropical and South Africa and comprises two
species.
Corvultur albicollis.
Corvus albicollis, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 151 (1790) Africa.
Corvultur albicollis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 24 (1877); Shelley, B.
Afr. I. No. 632 (1896); Johnston, Brit. Central Afr. p. 330 (1897) ;
Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 640 (1903); Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 174
Pondoland ; Sharpe, t. c., p. 367 Cape Col.; Sparrow, Journ. 8. Afr.
O. U. i. p. 9 (1905) ; Sclater, Ibis, 1905, p. 112 Matoppo Hills.
Corvus cafer, Licht. Cat. Rer. Nat. Hamb. p. 9 (1793).
Corvus vulturinus, Shaw, Gen. Zcol. vii. p. 343 (1809).
Corvultur crassirostris (non Rupp.), Grant, Ibis, 1905, p. 201 S. Uganda.
Le Corbivau, Levaill. Ois. Afr. ii. p. 5, pl. 50 (1799).
CORVULTUR ALBICOLLIS 13
or
Adult. General plumage glossy black, with a broad white collar round
the back of the neck; feathers of the throat more lanceolate than in
C. crassirostris, and, like the foreneck, dull brown, contrasting with the
remainder of the under surface, and is separated from it by a somewhat
concealed white band, the feathers of which are either edged with white
or pure white, sometimes with dark brown margins. ‘Iris hazel; bill very
dark brown, with the ends of the mandibles whitish horn colour; tarsi and
feet brownish black” (Andersson). Total length 18-5 inches, culmen 3:0,
wing 16:0, tail 7-1, tarsus 3:0. g , Nyika Plateau (Whyte).
Immature. More dusky brown; the white collar at the back of the
neck mesially streaked with brown towards the upper back; the white
collar on the fore-chest very distinct, but all these feathers are mottle
with brown.
The White-necked Corbivau ranges southward from 1° N,
lat. over the eastern half of Africa, and into Namaqualand
and Cape Colony.
With regard to its western range, Andersson, who calls it
the Southern Corbivau, writes: “This Raven-like-looking bird
is not, to my knowledge, an inhabitant of Damaraland, but
is abundant in the southern portion of Great Namaqualand,
where it remains throughout the year. It is generally found
singly or in pairs, but sometimes congregates in flocks. It
perches indiscriminately on rocks and trees, and may
occasionally also be seen perched on the backs of cattle, and
many species of wild animals, whose hides it examines in
search of parasitic insects; it, however, passes most of its
time upon the ground, where it stalks about with ludicrous
gravity, uttering at intervals cries not unlike those of a true
Raven. Carrion probably constitutes its chief nourishment ;
but it is said also to attack with ferocity and success the
young of the smaller quadrupeds. The flight of this species
is powerful; and it occasionally rises to a great height.”
Regarding the habits of the species, Stark writes: “ Found
alike on the coast, among the mountains and on the high
veldt, as well as in the Karroo and the sandy wastes of
136 CORVULTUR ALBICOLLIS
Namaqualand, the ‘ Ring-hals’ is one of the most widely
distributed and best known birds of South Africa. Where
not molested it is a bold and fearless species, frequenting the
outskirts of towns and villages, and the vicinity of farmhouses,
native kraals and outspans, on the look-out for offal and scraps
of all kinds. When reared from the nest it makes an
extremely tame and amusing, if sometimes mischievous, pet ;
it has, in fact, all the habits and idiosyncrasies of our
European Raven; its ordinary cry, also a harsh croak, is, to
my ear, exactly similar to that of the latter bird.
“In the interior the *‘ Ring-hals’ feeds largely on carrion,
and is usually the first bird to detect a carcass; on the coast
it devours dead fish cast up by the waves, shell-fish of all
kinds, the paper-nautilus being a favourite tit-bit, as well as
the eggs of penguins and other sea-fowl. At times it kills and
eats snakes, lizards, frogs and small tortoises. Nor does it
disdain an insect diet, beetles, grasshoppers, locusts and
termites are all readily devoured, as well as ticks and bots
picked from the hides of cattle. I have sometimes amused
myself by watching the bold, yet cautious and gentle manner
in which one of these Ravens will approach a reclining ox, and
after a preliminary course of soothing caresses, accompanied
by a soft ‘cawing’ note, insert his head into the ear and
dexterously extract the ticks. These birds always seem to
have a good understanding with the older and more experi-
enced oxen, who will, at a hint from one of them, lie down
and place themselves in the most favourable possible position
for the extraction of their parasites.
“ The ‘ Ring-hals ’ is usually a resident in Cape Colony and
Natal, and roosts all the year round in or near its nest. This
latter is invariably, so far as I have observed, built on a rock
or krantz, on a ledge, or in a hole. It is large and firmly
constructed of dead sticks and twigs mixed with pieces of turf
=
CORVULTUR ALBICOLLIS 137
and tufts of grass, and is lined with rootlets, wool, hair, erass
and various soft materials. The eggs, almost invariably three
in number, vary considerably in colour and shape, even in the
same nest; they are of some shade of bluish-white, more or
less thickly marked with various shades of olive-brown, and
are not to be distinguished with certainty from eggs of the
European Raven (Corvus corax). They average 2°05 X 1°32.
“The same nest is occupied year after year. In the
neighbourhood of Cape Town the eggs are usually laid in
August.”
In Layard’s time, according to his notes, it might be
“frequently seen about Table Mountain, descending from
thence to the shores of the bay in the morning, and returning
at night, but always flying at a great height over the town.”
I saw it occasionally in Cape Colony, but more frequently in
Natal. In Pondoland, Mr. Shortridge called it “a very
common resident, generally seen by day in pairs, which gather
together in flocks towards the evening and roost among the
rocks.” Major Sparrow writes: “The clutch is usually five,
not three, eggs. In the Orange River Colony and Natal I
have found that it lays in August.”
At the Zambesi Mr. Boyd Alexander found these Ravens
in pairs, but by no means common, and remarks: “ Unlike
Corvus scapulatus, it is a resident about the Zambesi, while in
whatever locality it was seen the latter species was absent.”
Throughout East Africa, from the Zambesi to the Equator,
it is apparently fairly abundant, varying in numbers accord-
ing to the food supply of the locality. In British Central
Africa Sir Harry Johnston informs us that it “is extremely
common in all the hill country,” and further remarks: “ It
carries off all small ducks and chickens within its reach.”
Béhn met with these Ravens on both sides of Lake
Tanganyika, and according to Stuhlmann it is known to the
138 CORVULTUR CRASSIROSTRIS
natives of Ungaru as the “ Kunguru,” which name he found was
also applied to the Black-and-white Crow at Zanzibar. Fisher
records them as daily visitors to his camps near the mouth of
the Pangani River and at Lake Nawasha, and remarks that
while they were abundant in the vicinity of the huts of the
Masai people, who feed upon meat and rear cattle, they were
absent from the seed-growing lands near Nguruman. On
Kilimanjaro Mr. H. C. V. Hunter met with them up to 15,000
feet, and Sir Harry Johnston writes: ‘Inhabits the whole
mountain up to the snow, and breeds in August in the most
inaccessible rocks.” In his book entitled ‘The Kilimanjaro
Expedition,” he gives a good figure of this Raven. Close
to the Equator Mr. Jackson has procured the species from
the Ruwenzori Mountains, at Kampala, in Southern Uganda,
on Mount Elgon, and in Nandi, and writes: “This fine Raven
is plentiful in Nandi. It is a tame and confiding bird.
Although plentiful here in July, it was not present two
months ago, and was probably away breeding.” In South
Uganda it has also been procured by the late Mr. W. G.
Doggett at Mulema.
Corvultur crassirostris.
Corvus crassirostris, Ritpp. N. Wirb. Vég. p. 19, pl. 8 (1835-40) Abyssinia.
Corvultur crassirostris, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 25 (1877); Shelley,
B. Afr. I. No. 633 (1896); Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 641 (1903) ;
Grant, Ibis, 1903, p. 255 S. Abyssinia; Neum. J. f. O. 1905, p. 231
Shoa.
Corvus albirostris crassirostris, Kleinschmidt, J. f. O. 1906, p. 82.
Adult. Similar to C. albicollis, from which it differs in the bill, being
double the size; feathers of the throat being more rounded and of a more
purplish shade like the entire under parts, there being no trace of a white
pectoral band ; on the hinder neck a large patch of white covers the sides
and back of the nape, and is continued in a narrow line down the neck, and
widens out slightly towards the mantle. Iris brown; bill black with the
end whitish; feet black. Total length 23-5 inches, culmen 4:0, wing 18:5,
tail 10-0, tarsus 3-3. 3, 21. 4. 68, Takonda (Jesse).
CORVULTUR CRASSIROSTRIS 139
The Thick-billed Corbivau inhabits North-east Africa.
It is very similar to C. albicollis, but may be readily
distinguished by the entire absence of any white pectoral
band, while in habits these Ravens are still more alike, but
the present species is the northern form ranging from Somali-
land and Lake Rudolf, northward to Kalabat and Taka, and
westward to the White Nile and Kordofan.
In Somaliland the species was first met with on the
plateau by Speke, and more recently Dr. Donaldson Smith
procured a pair at Sheik Husein in September, 1894. Lord
Lovat writes: “On the Addis Abbeba plateau it is common,
its ordinary food is carrion, but it will eat the fruit of the
wild fig with avidity. It has a harsh guttural note.” He
procured a specimen at Borumeda, and Mr. J. J. Harrison
obtained others at Loko and Dincha. In Shoa, Harris pro-
cured it at Angolalla, and Antinori records the species as
abundant in the mountains of Ankoba, and always to be met
with in the company of flocks and herds near Let Marefia.
Riippell, who discovered the species, mentions it as common
in the more elevated parts of Abyssinia, but according to Dr.
Blanford, it is locally distributed there. Von Heuglin found
it feeding in the market places of the native towns, and during
the Galla war in 1862, appeared on the battle fields in com-
pany with Vultures and Kites, and he records it from as far
north as Taka.
In March he found a nest placed in the crevice of a
precipitous rock overhangiug a waterfall in Wogara, and was
entirely hidden by the creepers which grew over it. This
Raven, he further remarks, rarely perches on trees, but mostly
frequents the open country, where it takes up its position on
some rock or stump, and although not shy, is exceedingly
cunning, like most of its allies.
In Mr. Ogilvie-Grant’s list of the late Mr. W. G. Doggett’s
140 CORVUS
last collection from South Uganda, C. albicollis is recorded
from Mulema, by error, as C. crassirostris.
Genus II. CORVUS.
Bill, tarsi and feet black and strong; culmen curved, and of about the
same length as the tarsus; nostrils always covered with thick bristles in
all the Ethiopian species. Wing long and pointed, nearly twice the length
of the tail. Tail square or rounded, of twelve feathers.
Corvus, Linn. 8. N. (x.), p. 105 (1758) ; (xii.) i. p. 155
(766) eae i TEL Mee oe weal w Ald) Choeronicati
Corone, Kaup. Naturl. Ever p. 1. 99 (1829) . ecivots ie) Aa ecotames
Pterocorax, Kaup. J. f. O. 1854, Suppl. P:lVeeecn uemea ) Ceralecess
Heterocorax, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. aa Sie = = (Ghaopensis:
Rhinocorax, Sharpe, ¢. c. p. 45 Spear C. affinis.
This is the most widely spread genus of the family, and is represented
in the Ethiopian Region by five species, three of which are confined to the
Ethiopian region.
KEY TO THE SPECIES.
a. Nasal-bristles mostly directed upwards. . ‘ . affinis.
b. Nasal-bristles all set flat over the nostrils; bill lege aca
a+, Bill stouter. Nasal-bristles longer, extending over more
than half the distance from the eye to tip of bill.
a*, Plumage black and white . . . albus.
gee Pines blackish, with no white ends 6 the feathers,
as, Basal portion of all the feathers dusky . . . . wmbrinus.
6%. Basal portion of feathers of neck and chest naee
white; wing about l4inches ...... . . editha.
61. Bill more slender Nasal-bristles shorter. . . . . . capensis.
Corvus affinis.
Corvus aftfinis, Riipp. N. Wirb. Vog. p. 20, pl. 10, fig. 2, head (1835-40)
Massawah, Shendi; Dresser, B. Bur. iy. p. 559, pl. 262, figs. 5, 7
(1894) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 635 (1896); Kleinschmidt, J. f. O.
1906, p. 83.
Rhinocorax affinis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 46 (1877); Reichen. Vog.
Afr. ii. p. 639 (1903) ; iii. p. 886 (1905); Neum. J. f. O. 19C8, p. 231
N. E. Africa.
Corvus brachyurus, Brehm. J. f. O. 1854, p. 75
CORVUS AFFINIS 141
Corvus brachyrhynchos, Brehm. Vogelf. 1855, p. 414.
Corvus brevicaudatus, Mull. J. f. O. 1855, p. 456.
Adult male. Black, with a gloss on the upper parts purple inclining to
green on the sides of the head and neck and to deeper black on the breast ;
nasal-bristles erected towards the forehead. Iris dark brown; bill, tarsi
and feet black. Total length 19:5 inches, culmen 2:5, wing 15-7, tail 7:0,
tarsus 2°7. g, Adigrat (Blanford).
Adult female. Like the male. Culmen 2°55, wing 15:3. 9?, Koom-
aylee (Blanford).
The Fan-tailed Raven ranges over North-east Africa
generally, from the Equator into Egypt and from the Upper
White Nile and Kordofan into Arabia.
The only specimen known to me from the Upper White
Nile was procured by Emin at Lado. Mr. Jackson saw two
at Eleeyu on the Kamassia range and found the crop in the
one he shot there full of egg and young birds; but from
Turquel Suk he writes: “ Plentiful in Kavamoja, together
with C. scapulatus and Corvultur albicollis.”
In Somaliland, according to Speke, it is known to the
natives as the “'Tukka,’ and Mr. Lort Phillips writes:
“Extremely common in Somaliland from the sea-coast at
Berbera to the top of the Ghoolis. It is a persistent and
most fearless camp-follower, and is ever on the look-out for
scraps from the kitchen. It has a curious habit of walking
about with its beak wide open, as if greatly affected by the
heat.”” Dr. Elliot also found them abundant in the country
and like C. edithe had a peculiar habit of soaring in the air,
when it could easily be recognised by the form of the wings
and tail, the secondaries reaching to the end third of the
latter and he writes: “A number would rise in the air,
generally in the middle of the day when the heat was
excessive, and ascending in more or less extensive circles
until they became mere specks in the sky or disappeared
142 CORVUS AFFINIS
altogether. Often during this performance they would join,
or be joined by, Vultures, Eagles or Hawks, and then the
entire company would sail along, circling as they went, the
Crows cutting across the paths of their larger companions in
utter disregard of their movements, or without, apparently,
fear of a collision. While thus soaring I never noticed
any movement of the wing, the birds propelling themselves
onward and upward in the same mysterious manner as
is observed of the birds of prey, when similarly engaged.”
This phenomenon of rising without effort, in the air, is,
I believe, due, to a great extent, to the bones of birds
being hollow and not air-tight, at least when the wings are
expanded, and consequently the air becomes more rarefied
in their bodies as they ascend, and this being warmed by the
peculiarly rapid circulation of the blood in birds, diminishes
their weight as they ascend.
The species is equally abundant throughout Shoa,
Abyssinia and Arabia, but gradually dwindles in number
towards Palestine, Egypt and Kordofan, where it can hardly
be regarded as more than a straggler. The types were dis-
covered by Riippell at Massawah and Shendi, where he
records them as abundant. Heuglin writes: “I once saw
it at Thebes, afterwards in Southern Nubia, in the oasis of
El Kab, at Kordofan, through the whole of Abyssinia up to
an altitude of 10,000 to 12,000 feet; on the Danakil and
Somali coasts in large flocks in October. In general it is
much more gregarious in its habits than C. wmbrinus and
C. scapulatus ; in the plains, in the mountains, and on the
coast it is not unfrequently seen, as also near human habita-
tions. In the highland it appears to breed in colonies in the
cliffs, and I saw large flocks circling round like Jackdaws.
In the flat country it is rarer, usually occurring in pairs; and
it sometimes inhabits the most sterile deserts, frequenting the
caravan halting-places and the wells.”
CORVUS AFFINIS 143
Canon Tristram (Ibis, 1866, p. 71), while camping in a
deserted part of Palestine, near the ancient fortress of
Mesada, first saw a specimen of this Crow in company with
a pair of C. wmbrinus and observed that their flight was very
different, C. affinis “rather sailed than flew, and the motion
of the wings was scarcely perceptible. But more marked
than all was the contrast of its outline. Its depth of wing,
not only long but broad, till the secondaries appeared to reach
almost to the end of the tail, and its short broad tail ex-
tending to twice the width of the other, made it appear to
cover double the surface its companions did and we-at once
named it the Fantail Raven. But its note was the richest,
most powerful, and most musical that ever Raven uttered.
No croak, but a long-sustained cheery cry which decidedly
belied its relationship.” He further mentions that on reach-
ing the rich oasis of Safieh below Kerak he found the
smoking embers of a plundered village, strewn with the
corpses of the combatants in a recent battle; but he had
to camp there for the night, and writes: “ Wheresoever the
carcase is, there will the Eagles be gathered together: and
the Ravens also; for the sun was not above the horizon
when a steady stream of carrion-eaters, who had scented the
battle from afar, began to set in from the south. All the
Vultures, Kites and Ravens of North Arabia, seemed to be
rushing to the banquet. Against them we perpetrated a
regular battwe on their way to their uncleanly feast. We
brought down more specimens than we could carry away of
the three species of Rayen—the Common, the Brown-necked,
and four good specimens of our long-sought Fantail, C.
afinis. The Vultures and Kites sailed too high, out of
reach of our shot. Had we not been compelled to leave, we
might doubtless have stood among the trees, and with a
human bait before us, have continued our warfare throughout
144 CORVUS ALBUS
the day. After this we never saw our new friend again,
for the south end of the Dead Sea appears his northern
limit; nor did we ever meet with C. umbrinus north of
Jerusalem, not even in the upper part of the Jordan valley.
Neither does it ever descend to the coast, where C. corax
alone is found.”
Blanford (Geol. & Zool. Abyss. p. 393) writes: “It
abounds everywhere on the highlands and in the sub-
tropical zone, and it descends almost to the sea-level at
times. When I first visited Komayli, at the base of the
hills, in January, the only Crow to be seen was C. scapulatus,
but in February, after some rain had fallen, C. affinis
abounded. In the former instance I first met with this
species at about 3,000 feet, near Mayen. In May it had
retreated once more to its former range, and the white-
breasted Crow alone was to be seen in the tropical region;
in ascending to the Bogos country it first appeared on the
Lepka at about 12,000 feet above the sea, at Ain.”
According to Mr. Oscar Neumann they breed in February.
Corvus albus.
Corvus albus, P. L. S. Mill. S. N. Suppl. p. 85 (1776) Senegal;
Kleinschmidt, J. f. O. 1906, p. 90.
Corvus scapulatus, Daud. Traité ii. p. 232 (1800); Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
iil. p. 22 (1877); Milne, Edw. & Grand. Hist. Madag. i. p. 444; Atlas
i. pl. 177; iii. pl. 304, fig. 6, egg (1879); Shelley, B. Afr. I. No.
634 (1896) ; Johnston, Brit. Centr. Afr. p. 330 (1897) ; Reichen. Vég.
Afr. ii. p. 634 (1903); Shortridge, Ibis, 1903, p. 174 Pondoland ;
Grant, t. c. p. 255, Shoa; Whitehead, Ibis, 1904, p. 223 Orange R. ;
Alexander, t. c. p. 359 Fernando Po ; Kemp, Ibis, 1905, pp. 214, 247
Sierra Leone; A. L. Butler, t.c. p. 326 Soudan; Neum. J. f. O.
1905, p. 230 N. E. Africa.
Corvus scapularis, Leach in Tuckey. Exped. Zaire, p. 407 (1818).
Corvus scapularis, var. ethiops, Hempr. & Ehr. Symb. Phys. fol. z (1828).
“Corvus dauricus, Lath.” Desj. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 45 Madagascar.
CORVUS ALBUS 145
Corvus curvirostris, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 18 W. Africa.
Corvus leuconotus, Swains. B. W. Afr. i. p. 133, pl. 5 (1837) Senegal.
Coryus pheocephalus, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 232 (1851); Kleinschmidt,
J. f. O. 1906, p. 92, pls. 2, 3, 4.
Corvus madagascariensis, Bp. C. R. 1853, p. 829.
Adult. Black and white; the dark parts glossed with purple and steel-
blue, less so on the abdomen and under wing-coverts ; hind neck, mantle,
sides of neck and breast from crop to abdomen pure white. Iris dark
brown; bill, tarsi and feet black. Total length 18 inches, culmen 2:3,
wing 13:5, tail 7-2, tarsus 2-4. g, 29. 7. 66, Otjimbinque (Andersson).
The African Black and White Crow ranges over the whole
of Tropical and South Africa and the surrounding islands,
including those of the Madagascar subregion.
The range of this species is remarkable as including the
whole of the Ethiopian Region, as I define it, and does not
occur elsewhere. Throughout its wide range it is apparently
very evenly distributed, like the Grey Crow (Corvus corniz)
is over Great Britain, and much resembles that bird in size,
structure and habits. Sir Harry Johnston, with his wide
knowledge of Africa, writes: ‘The Common Black and White
Crow is found throughout Africa from the verge of the Sahara
to Natal; but I have sometimes thought 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 useful as a scavenger.”’
Dr. Reichenow, in his Vogel Afrikas, gives a long list of
the localities where specimens have been procured, which I
need not here repeat, and the following native names for the
species: Abomey, “ Avumsoco-o” (F'. Newton) ; Fernando Po,
“Caha” (F. Newton); Benguela, “ Xiquamango,” “ Kelam-
balambe,” “ Equala,” “ Quiquamanga,” “ Kiquela ”’ (Anchieta) ;
South Africa, “ Bonte Kraai” of the Boers (W. L. Sclater) ;
Zambesi, “ Kounjouboui” (Foa); Quilimane, “ Nyakungu”’
(Stuhlmann) ; Zanzibar, ‘“ Kurabu” (Fischer) ; Mombasa,
“ Kuneuru ” (Fischer) ; Taita, “ Gursi”’ (Hildebrandt).
(January, 1906. 10
146 CORVUS ALBUS
Dr. P. Rendall found a pair breeding in a tree in the
Government-house grounds at Bathurst on the Gambia, and
Dr. Hartert met with the species nesting on Los Island in
April. Dr. Biittikofer writes from Liberia: “This species
lives more exclusively than any of its congeners, upon fish,
craw-fish and molluscs, which are sometimes left behind in
ereat quantities by the retiring tide, and is, moreover, very
fond of palm-nuts. During the palm-oil season, from
February to May, as the country people say, its meat must
be ‘much sweet,’ and I was obliged to shoot lots of them for
our boys’ dinners. Now and then I tasted this * meat ’
myself, and although I did not find it exceedingly palatable—
especially that of adult birds—I much preferred it to that
of Hornbills, Plantain-eaters, Parrots and the like, which
is very tough and dry indeed. The nest of the African Rook
is built in the crowns of high, inaccessible cotton-trees.” At
the Niger, Dr. Hartert found a pair breeding in February
on the top of a tall Bombax tree.
Andersson, in his “ Birds of Damaraland,” writes: “It is
a regular scavenger, being always present where offal is to be
had, and at times resorting in numbers to the bays and inlets
of the coast in search of carrion thrown up by the waves;
indeed its scent and sight for carrion rivals that of the
Vultures, and it is not unfrequently seen about a carcass before
even a single Vulture has appeared. It is quite fearless, and
will approach a person within a few steps, but if once shot
at, displays considerable cunning and caution. From its
commonness and sociability its presence is often disregarded ;
and it avails itself of such opportunities to carry off any
pieces of meat and fat which may chance to be within its
reach; but such little depredations are amply compensated
by its usefulness as a scavenger, and also in ridding domestic
as well as wild animals, from the fearfully blood-thirsty ticks
CORVUS ALBUS 147
which infest their hides. Some of the notes of this Crow,
more especially on a raw misty morning, are absurdly singular
and ridiculous. In the heat of the day nearly all the birds
of this kind found in a limited locality will join in circling
round and round for hours together, sometimes ascending
to a very great height.” Their nests, he remarks, much
resembled those of the Kites.
Stark writes: “Its usual note is a harsh croak, but, like
many of the Crows, it has a singular variety of cries, especially
in Spring, many of them sounding as if the bird were about
to choke or was trying to call with its mouth full of food.
The nest, built in September in Cape Colony, is a large basket
work of sticks and twigs, lined with wool and other soft
material. It is usually placed in a tree, but occasionally
on the ledge of a krantz. The eggs, from four to six in
number, are bluish-green, spotted and streaked, especially
towards the larger end, with different shades of olive-brown
They measure 1°65 x 1:15.” The Colonels Butler and
Feilden and Captain Reid, write from Natal: ‘“ Note extremely
guttural and hoarse, only to be compared to that of a frog
with a bad cold! Nest in both trees and rocks. Reid took a
nest in a ‘krantz’ close to Newcastle, containing four eggs, on
October 9; the old birds, nothing daunted, built another nest
on a ledge of rock close by, and in twelve days one of them
was sitting on a fresh clutch of eggs. It is worthy of note
that the first nest was so compactly built, though to all
appearance a most flimsy construction, that it was lifted
bodily from its site by the end of one of its component
sticks, and that the lining consisted solely of a mass of pieces
of ox hide (evidently torn from a carcass), weighing quite
two pounds.”
T. EK. Buckley, during his journey through the Transvaal
and Matabeleland, found this species and Corvultur albicollis,
148 CORVUS ALBUS
equally common, affecting the open plains and neighbour-
hood of towns in preference to the bush country. From the
Zambesi, Sir John Kirk writes: “ Particularly common in
the Portuguese towns, where it is the common scavenger, and
also all up the river.” - Mr. Boyd Alexander, while on the
Zambesi, saw them generally in large flocks, one of which he
put up out of a mealie-field, which rose “ with a great uproar,
and circled in the air after the manner of Rooks.” In
Nyasaland, according to Sir Harry Johnston, it takes the
place of Corvultur albicollis in the less elevated districts,
and he found this also to be the case when he ascended
Kilimanjaro.
In North-east Africa, according to Heuglin, it is to be
met with. singly or in pairs, excepting during the winter
months, when they assemble in small parties. In Sennaar in
June, he found one of their nests placed in a small acacia tree
about 12 feet from the ground, and resembled in structure
that of our Common Rook. Hartman likewise found a nest
in the same country, on May 3, with eggs resembling those of
the Carrion Crow.
In the Indian Ocean the species ranges as far east as
Madagascar and the Seychelles Archipelago. It is plentiful
in Madagascar, where its Betsileos name is “ Goaka,” in the
Bar language the “Gaga” and the Hovas call it “ Voromkako.”
On the island of Anjuan it is known, according to Mr. Bewsher,
as the “ Quihe.” he species has been obtained in Mohilla
by Kersten, on Mayotte by Pollen and Humblot, and it is
known to be distributed over the Seychelles Islands.
During Sir E. Newton and Mr. 8. Roch’s expedition from
Tamatave to Antananarivo they “found a nest on a low tree
in the middle of the capitol. The nest and eges were in
every respect similar to those of the Common or Hooded
Crow.”
CORVUS UMBRINUS 149
Corvus umbrinus.
‘*Corvus umbrinus, Hedenb.” Sundev. k. Vet. Akad. Forh. Stockh. 1838,
p. 199; Dresser, B. Eur. iv. p. 577, pl. 265, fig. 2 (1874); Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. iii. p. 17 (1877); Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 636 (1896) ;
Alexander, Ibis, 1898, pp. 81, 91; Salvad. Ann. Mus. Gen. 1899,
p. 288 Cape Verde Isl.; Reichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 633 (1903) ;
Grant and Forbes, Nat. Hist. Sokotra, p. 22 (1903); Nicoll, Ibis,
1904, p. 35, Cape Verde Isl. ; A. L. Butler, Ibis, 1905, p. 8326 Soudan.
“Corvus infumatus, Wagn. 1839,” Sundev. Civ. 1850, p. 130.
Corvus corax umbrinus, Kleinschmidt, J. f. O. 1906, p. 86.
Corvus corone (non Linn.) Dorhn. J. f. O. 1871, p. 5 Cape Verde Isl.
Adult male. General plumage brownish-black, with a bronze gloss; the
nasal bristles, which set flat over the nostrils, are black like the lores and
feathers surrounding the eyes; feathers of foreneck lanceolate. Iris dark
brown; bill, tarsi and feet black. Total length 21 inches, culmen 2-95,
wing 14:9, tail 8-4, tarsus 2:95, Egypt (Shelley).
Adult female. Like the male in plumage. Culmen 2-4, wing 15:4, tail
8:3, tarsus 2:4; depth of bill at nostrils 0°8, St. Jago (Alexander).
The Brown-necked Crow is abundant on the Cape Verde
Islands, but has not otherwise been recorded from further
west than Kordofan and the Nile Valley, from whence it
ranges eastward over the southern half of Asia to Balu-
chistan.
On the Cape Verde Islands the species is generally dis-
tributed, so it is surprising not to find it recorded from the
mainland of West Africa. That caused me in 1896 to enter
C. leptonyx (B. Afr. i. No. 637) under the impression that the
Cape Verde Island Crow would prove to belong to the same
species as the Madeira and Morocco small Raven, but that
has been proved conclusively not to be the case. The two
species are very similar, but the Morocco bird has a stouter,
more Raven-like bill, and for comparison, I have given the
depth of the bill in the Cape Verde Island specimen I have
described.
Regarding the Brown-necked Crow on Santiago, Mr.
150 CORVUS UMBRINUS
Boyd Alexander writes: “On February 25, we discovered a
nest ready for eggs on a ledge of rock close to the sea and
about 30 feet up. Locusts formed the chief food of these
birds, which they hunted in a most systematic manner. On
several occasions I had the opportunity of watching them
on the war path.