7x6 C R E E P E R .
Places.
M. Adanfon fays, that the female, of which he has feen many at
Senegal, is exaflly like the male; and that the one defcribed by
Brijfon as a female, is only a young bird not yet come to perfection.
Linnaeus defcribes this very differently, though I am confident
that he means the fame bird. He fays, the bill is twice as long as
the head: the head a-nd back fhining blue : breafl blue black,
gloffy, with a fire-coloured or golden ferruginous band on the
breafl: belly brown : quills black : tail the fame, and even at
the ends.
Inhabits Ceylon, and Madagafcar; and is called Angala-diatu.
Buffon tells us, that it makes its nefl of the down of plants, in
form of a cup, like that of a Chaffinch, the female laying generally
five or fix eggs; and that it is fometimes chafed by a Spider as large-
as itfelf, and very voracious, which feizes on the whole brood,, and
fucks the blood of the young birds..
>7-
GREEN-GOLD
CR.
Le Soui-manga des toutes couleurs, Buf. o if v. p. JI J.‘
Avis Ceylonica omnicolor, Sola, The/, pi. 69, f. 5..
Falcinellus omnicolor Zeylanicus, Klein, ord. am. p. 107. N° 8.
D escription. r y HE fynonyms of Seta and Klein are added, both by Linnaeus
■ L and Briffion, to the former; but it is plain that Seta could
not mean the fame bird : for his defcription fays, it is near eight
inches in length : the bill an inch, and a half long : and the tail
two inches and a quarter: the whole plumage green, with a
fhade of all manner of colours, among which that of gold bears
the greatefl fhare. Seta, indeed, adds, that the young of this
falls a prey to the great Spider above mentioned*; but this
* Merian mentions this of the young of Humming-birds in general.
mifhapmifhap
is furely not peculiar to this fpecies merely; and I make
no doubt, that not only this, but the young brood of every fmall
bird, may be liable to the fame accident, whenever this infefl may
be ftrong enough to gain the fuperiority: befides, the manifefl
difference in length, between five inches and a half and eight
inches, muff, to every impartial judge, prevent them being ranked
together as the fame fpecies.
Certhiaafra, Lin. SjJl, i. p. j86. N° n .
Le Soui-manga vert a gorge rouge, Buf. oif. v. p. j 14.
Red-breafted green Creeper, Ednv. glean, pi. 347.
f'jpH IS is between four and five inches long. The bill is one
inch,, and dufky: head, neck, back, and wing coverts, fhin-
*ng green, glofied with burnifhed 'gold and copper : acrofs the
breafl; a bar of fine red : the upper tail coverts fine blue : greater
wing feathers, and tail, dark brown; lighter on the edges : infides
of the wings, and under fide of the tail, lighter than above:
belly,, thighs, and under tail coverts; white : legs black.
This is met with at the Cape of Good Hope, where it is faid to
ling as well as a Nightingale, and has a fweeter voice.
my colleftion is a bird which I fhould fuppofe to be of a
different fex from the above, as it anfwers pretty well in all
things except the belly, which is- afh-coloured inflead of white,
and is probably the very bird which Edwards has defcribed; with
this addition, that in my fpecimen there is a tuft of fine yellow
feathers under each wing, and the tongue bifid at the end. It
moll
18:
AFRICAN
CR.
1 Mk : Â ' D escription. J1f1
111
P lace.
MfJf
I. I 11li
18. Iffl ■ *-Var. A. ■HP D escription. 1 iIpi
11
III % m m .