Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/444

 No. 4. Lanius humeralis, or White shouldered Shrike.

The bill in this bird is three quarters of an inch from the tip to the gape, and not quite half an inch to the front. The depth, from the upper to the under edge of the bill, is about one quarter of an inch. The general colour of the plumage appears nearly to agree with No. 3; but the black is every where of a fuller deeper tint. This colour occupies the head, neck, and upper part of the back. The rump and upper tail coverts are of a greyish white. The wings are black, except the scapulars, and the bases of the primary quills, which are white, forming, when the wings are closed, very small round spots. The tail is rather more than four inches and a half in length, and wedge-shaped. The four middle feathers are wholly black: the eight others are black at the base, and tipped with white, which increases in every pair, so that the exterior feather on each side is almost entirely white. The whole under parts are white, inclining to a dirty white on the belly and vent. On the sides, just above the thighs, is a small blotch of a bright chesnut colour. The legs and claws are black. The base of the upper mandible is furnished with five or six strong black bristles. This bird appears to come very near to Dr. Latham's description of his Collared Shrike, p. 163. But it has not the most distant appearance of any such mark: and its length is not above nine inches and a half, whereas the Doctor ascribes twelve to his Collaris.

No. 5. Psittacus Taranta. Abyssinian Paroquet.

Size about that of the black winged paroquet; length about 6½ inches; bill blood-red; the whole of the front feathers between the eyes and upper mandible of a bright red; some of these adjoining the crown are edged with green, while some, which are very small, surround the eyes, and end in a point behind, giving the same effect as if the eye were placed in a naked skin, as in the genus Perdrix. The rest of the head, neck, and body, the ridge of the wing, lesser coverts, scapulars and tertials are green, deeper above and lighter below. The greater coverts are also green, but deeply tipped with black, which colour also occupies the secondaries, so as to form a line directly across the wing. The prime quills are dusky, narrowly edged with green: and the fourth and fifth on each side have their tips of a very light brown, as if the colour was there faded. From the point of the shoulder springs a very long black feather, which covers the whole ridge of the wing, and falls upon the first quill, in a line with the ends of the greater coverts. The upper tail coverts are of a bright yellow green, and so long as nearly to cover the tail, which is rather rounded at the end. The outer web of the exterior tail feather is light green; the interior yellow, which colour gradually increases upon all the intermediate feathers. A black bar crosses the ends of all; but their extreme tips are green, which colour however lessens upon each as it approaches nearer to the two middle feathers. These latter are green, deeply tipped for about