. Foreign birds for cage and aviary . ; the secondarieshluisli towards the tips;tail-feathers rosy pm-ple,with a faint bronze glossand more or less violet re-flections. also showevanescent black bare;• lown of the head metallicliionze, as also the sides■ t the face and throat, theliitter slightly spangledM ith golden bixtnze ; lowerl>art of throat shadinginto deep steely-green,with a subterminal blue>-hade, which merges intopeacock-green on theIjreast; lower part of thebreast and abdomenpurple, glossed with cop-,, ,, . , , per; .sidtes of body glossed blue; thighs blue with a viol


. Foreign birds for cage and aviary . ; the secondarieshluisli towards the tips;tail-feathers rosy pm-ple,with a faint bronze glossand more or less violet re-flections. also showevanescent black bare;• lown of the head metallicliionze, as also the sides■ t the face and throat, theliitter slightly spangledM ith golden bixtnze ; lowerl>art of throat shadinginto deep steely-green,with a subterminal blue>-hade, which merges intopeacock-green on theIjreast; lower part of thebreast and abdomenpurple, glossed with cop-,, ,, . , , per; .sidtes of body glossed blue; thighs blue with a violet shade;nnder wing-coverts and steelv-green, slightlybluish; quills below black; bill and lefs black-Jris of eye sulphur-yellow. This seems a lar^elurd measuring upwards of 19 in. from the tip ofthe biU to the extremity of the tail, but the latteroccupies 13i in. of the total length. The female a trifle smaller. Hab., Northern TropicalAfrica, from Senegal to the Niger, and eastward intoAbysania (Shelley).. Long-tailed Starlino. witJh A bluer fomi, L. ei/loiil Fraser, which Dr. Russregards as distinct, has not been recorded farther eastthan Fantee. tapt. Shelley says of it, I doubt ;ii. being even a good sub-species, as it is knownonly from the districts inhabited by L. caudatus. andas yet we know little with regard to the moult of thesesi>ecies. According to Von Heuglin this bird moults inNovember and December, and breeds about August. Itlives in pairs and families of alxjut six to eight indi-viduals, which are making a noise and in motion thowhole day, sweeping about far into the lofty forest orycrub. One frequently observes the young, sittinghuddled together upon a .^lender branch, whilst theadults dart busily from branch to branch, scufflingtogether or with other birds, or with lifted tails likeMagpies run and hop hither and thither upon the earth. The food, according to Von Heuglin, consists princi-pally of fruits and buds, yet they


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