152 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1889. 



No. 981 resembles the female but is rather brighter chestnut ; 

 tail feathers only slightly elongated, coverts and primaries edged 

 with white. 



No. 979 similar but with long central tail feathers. 



No. 978 similar but with one of the long feathers white and one 

 chestnut; the latter is the shorter, and the white one is spotted with 

 rufous and has the outer web black for half its length. 



No. 977 has both the long feathers white, the barbs and outer 

 webs marked with black. 

 Terpsiphone cristata (Gm.), Gaboon and alsoN. E. Africa. 



This is probably the most perplexing species of this difficult 

 genus, and after examining the types of Cassin's several species I 

 think Mr. Sharpe was perfectly justified in uniting them all under 

 T. cristata. The series collected by Du Chaillu in Gaboon contains 

 connecting links between all the more distinct phases of coloration, 

 and I think it is rather remarkable that Mr. Cassin did not notice 

 the identity of some of the forms at least. Very young males are 

 reddish above and gray beneath with the head and neck steel-green 

 and the under tail coverts rufous. 



No 991 is similar with white edgings to some of the wing feathers 

 and with the central tail feathers longer than the others. 



No. 988 apparently in breeding plumage is similar but has the 

 secondaries, with the exception of the innermost, white on the outer 

 webs, and the coverts pure white. • 



No. 990 has the under tail coverts gray, and the tail black and 

 rufous ; some of the secondaries are bordered with rufous and some 

 with white. This is the type of T. speciosa of Cassin. Various other 

 specimens are in about the same stage ; some have the tail feathers 

 red, some white, and others red, white and black on the same feathers. 

 There are also adult males (types of T. duchaUIui Cassin) and 

 intermediate forms between these and the red-backed stages men- 

 tioned above. 



Terpsiphone perspicillata (Swains.), Cape of Good Hope. 

 Terpsiphone tricolor (Fraser). 



A number of specimens from Gaboon collected by Du Chaillu, 

 exhibiting various stages of plumage. The bird which I take to be 

 the adult male is blue-gray above and bright orange-chestnut below, 

 head glossy steel-black. The female is similar but duller, while 

 the young birds are dull orange above and below. 



