Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/449

 the inner web. The space beneath the tail is dusky; the bar and tips of the outer feathers being darker, and the tips of the rest whitish. The wing is nearly of the same colour with the body, but inclines a little more to chesnut on the quills. The outer margins of the primaries have a shade of blue: their tips are dusky, and the inner edges of a chesnut colour. On the secondaries and tertials the chesnut colour encroaches also upon the outer web; is margined with green, and deeply tipped with dusky, which becomes pale at the extreme tip. The space below the ridge of the wing is green; and the rest of the feathers are of a chesnut colour, with dusky tips: the first quill being scarcely an inch and an half long, and the third, which is longest, measuring three inches. The scapular feathers and those nearest the back have a considerable tinge of blue. The legs are week and dusky, appearing to have been of a reddish tinge.

No. 26. Certhia Tacazze. Splendid Creeper.

It is impossible by any words to describe the splendid effect of the colours in this bird. The whole head, neck, and breast, the upper part of the belly, the back and rump, the upper coverts and bend of the wing, present a glow of metallic lustre that cannot be surpassed by any other even of this brilliant family. The head, neck, and breast, are principally of a golden green colour, mingled with a considerable share of the rich coppery purplish gloss that adorns the other parts. The wings are dusky, edged outwardly with deep blue; the quills plain dusky; while the lower part of the belly, the vent, legs, and claws, are black. The tail would be rounded in shape, were it not for the two middle feathers which exceed the rest in length by nearly two inches: and it is of a blue black colour, with the edges, for about half the length of the feathers, of a bright steel blue, dusky beneath. The under tail coverts are of the same colour as the tail. The length of the bird is eight inches and three quarters; the bill being an inch long, considerably bent, and black.

No. 29. Tanagra erythroryncha. Red-billed Tanager.

In size and manners, in the arrangement of the feet, and the general colour of the plumage, this bird strongly resembles the African Beefeater. But the form of the bill is manifestly different, being three quarters of an inch long, and of a bright orange red, strong in shape, but not straight or square. The upper mandible is convex, a little inclining at the point, with no notch: but the edges are a little protuberant at the base below the nostrils, the lower one being flat at the sides, and having an angle on the lower side. The general colour of the plumage on the upper parts, the throat, and neck, is a heavy olive brown shading off at the ends of the quills into dusky, except in some of the primaries, the ends of which are of a lighter brown, and the lower parts of a brownish yellow. The tail appears rounded in shape, the feathers being somewhat pointed: but there is no rufous colour on the inner margins. The legs