( 485 ) 

 1. Textor albirostris albirostris (Vieill.). 



Coccdhraiistes albirostris Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xiii. p. 535. "Afrique." — Yieillot 

 mentions nothing of a white base to the quills, only " un peu de blanc au pli de l'aile et sur le 

 bord exterieur de quelques pennes ailaires." The statement about some white on the bend of 

 the wing is probably inexact, some white bases of feathers having shown through. We may 

 therefore suppose that the type came from Senegal, whence most African birds were brought 

 to France in olden times, and we may follow the usual custom of accepting the name of 

 albirostris for the Senegambian form. 



Textm- smeijnhnsis Shelley, B. Africa i. p. 34 (lH'.Mi — Gambia). Cf. Reichenow, Vbg. Afr. iii. p. 3. 



Distinguishing characters : Base of quills blackish, not white or even whitish 

 grey. Base of bill highly swollen, rough, and white in adult males — whether 

 throughout the year or only during the breeding season I cannot say, bnt probably 

 this peculiarity is not restricted to the breeding season. Shelley described younger 

 birds or females as senegalensis. 



Distribution : Seuegambia to Northern Abyssinia, Bogosland, the White Nile, 

 Sennaar, and Chartum. 



We have trade-skins from Senegambia, one from Bogos (collected by Jesse), 

 fine skins taken in February, March, and December in Salamona, Erythrea (collected 

 by G. Schrader), one from the Setit district in Erythrea (collected by Roberto 

 Gentile, received in exchange from the Florence Museum), and a pullns from 

 the Blue Nile (10. x. 1850, A. E. Brehm coll.). The pullus has the bill whitish, 

 less mature ones of both sexes have it blackish, fully adult males black with 

 white base and swollen base to culmen. 



Lesson ( TruM c/'Orn. 1831, p. 433), Riippell, Heuglin, and I (Bull. B.O.C. 

 xii. 1902. p. 77) mention the extraordinary development of a long and erect penis, 

 though an anatomical investigation of this growth has never been made. 

 Cf. Bull. B.O.C, I.e., what the Kafirs of the Transvaal think of it. 



2. Textor albirostris scioanus Salvad. 



Textor scioanus Salvadori, Ann. Mia. Civ, Genova, 1884. p. 195 (Daimbi, Shoa). 



Distinguishing characters : Like T. a. albirostris, but with a distinct whitish 

 wash at the base of the quills. Bill red or reddish brown with blackish tip, 

 apparently only sometimes swollen at base. It is very strange that a few specimens 

 from Shoa have the bill swollen at base, while in a series we have seen from 

 the Hawash region and Somali not one has a swollen bill. 



The following of our specimens appear to belong to T. a. scioanus : 



1 S ad., 1 " ? " juv., between Dawa and Aituola in Northern Somaliland, 24, 25. 

 ii. 1S95. Dr. Doualdsou Smith, coll. (Nos. 525, 529.) Bill 3 ad. " vermilion." 



1 d ad., 1 ? juv., Awara Malka (near Aukober), 22. vi. 03. Zapphiro coll. 



1 ? juv., Karaba. 22. v. 03. Zapphiro coll. 



1 ? juv., Housso River (? Hoursso or Hullo), north of Harar, 7. v. 03. 

 Zapphiro coll. 



4 <$ ad., 1 ? ad., 2 juv., Kassam River (tributary of the Hawash), June 1903. 

 Zapphiro coll. 



1 cf ad., Bulga, 14. vi. 03. Zapphiro coll. 



3 S ad., Dire Ela, north of Harar, 21. v. 03. " Iris blue-white, bill red." 

 Zapphiro coll. 



1 6 ad., 2 juv., Mnlu, May 1903. Zapphiro coll. 



