Identifier: birdsofafricacom51shel (find matches)
Title: The birds of Africa, comprising all the species which occur in the Ethiopian region
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Shelley, G. E. (George Ernest), 1840-1910 Sclater, W. L. (William Lutley), 1863-1944 Grönvold, Henrik, 1858-1940
Subjects: Birds Birds
Publisher: London, Published for the author by R.H. Porter (18 Princes Street, Cavendish Square, W.)
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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the forehead black and thesides of the crown and hack of neck of a reddish violet shade; a few ofthe upper tail-coverts bronze; tail violet shaded black, washed with bronzedown the centre and on the outer webs of the other feathers; primaries,with the ends and inner webs dull bluish black ; in front of eye black;cheeks, ear-coverts, sides of neck, chin and throat reddish violet; breast steelblue like the mantle ; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts black glossedwith reddish bronze ; under surface of wings and tail brownish black ; theunder •wing-coverts glossed with deep steel blue. Iris yellow; bill and feetblack. Total length 7-5 inches, culmen 0-7, wing 4-7, tail 2-9, tarsus 0-95.Fantee (Ussher). Immature. Similar to the adults but duller, the black bases of thefeathers of the neck and breast showing through the metallic colouring. The Copper-tailed Glossy Starling ranges fi-om SierraLeone over Liberia and the Gold Coast. The type is a specimen from Sierra Leone in the Brussels
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i ^ O L 0) r( ;:! ? o PL,CO o - Ph (TO LAMPROTORNIS PURPUREICEP3 81 Museum. Doiuery met witli the species at the Sulymali River,and it is apparently seneially distributed over Liberia and theGold Coast, and this is the limit of its known range. Ussherrecords it as: Common in most districts of the GoldCoast, but especially on the plains of Accra. It associates inflocks with L. purpiireus, and much resembles, in its flightand habits, our English Starling. According to Mr. BoydAlexander: This species is not found outside the forest Lamprotornis purpureiceps (Plate 46, fig. 2). Lamprocolius purpureiceps, Verr. Eev. et Mag. Zool. 1851, p. 418 Gaboon ;Sharpe, Cat. B. M. .xiii. p. 184 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 60;)(1896); Eeichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 685 (1903). Adult. The extremely short feathers of the crown violet like the sidesof the neck, chin, throat and crop, shading into Ijlack on the forehead andsides of the head ; back of neck, back, scapulars, centre upper tail-covertsand the

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