NOVITATES ZOOLOQICAE XXII. 1915. SSt 



84. Ceryle rudis rudis (L.) 



(About the subspecies of. Vuy.jml. Fauna, ii. pp. 877-879). 



A serai-albinistic male, witli most of the primaries (more on the left wing than 

 on the right), and most of the rectrices white, was shot at Zaria, 22. x. 1912. 



85. Corythornis cristata cyanostigma (Kiipp.) 

 (? ad., ? and jiiv., province of Zaria. (( U'. C II. B. Grant, T/i/'s, IHI;"), p. 263.) 



86. Halcyon senegalensis senegalensis (L.) 



(J? ad., jav., Zaria, October and Noveraher l'J12. 



These specimens agree perfectly with a large series collected by Riggeiibaeli 

 in the Western Senegal ( 'olony. The same applies to those collected in the Galla 

 conntries by Erianger and Zaphiro, whije //. senegalensis cyanoleiim from Angola 

 and South Africa is a very distinct, much larger snbspecies. PJrlanger {.loiirn. f. 

 Oni. 100."), p. 450) never grasped the real differences, and eannot have made a 

 carefnl comparison, as he only mentioned tlie colour, not the measurements. 



There is apparently another form: Jlalei/oii se/iegalensis/uscojnleus {Reichenow, 

 On/. Moiuttsber. 1906, p. 171) from Kamerun, with a dark brown crown of the head, 

 but we have not enough material to discuss its distribution ; 0. H. B. Grant {Ibis, 

 1915, p. 268) considers yascojoz7e«s to be a synonym oi senegalensis. 



87. Halcyon chelicuti chelicuti (Stanley) 



Alaiulo (err. typ.) chelicuti Stanley, Salt's Abij.isinia, p. Ivi (1814 — Chelicut in Abyssinia). 



One skin from the province of Zaria. 



South African birds are markedly larger, and mnst be called //. chelicidi 

 (lamarensia Strickl. In Conti: Orn. 1852, p. 153, Strickland described this race 

 as being larger than H. chelicuti. Alcedo rariegatu Vieillot ami striolata Lichten- 

 stein refer to the Senegal form which is the same as the Abyssinian one, while 

 pi/gmaea Cretzschmar, which seems also to be the same, was described from 

 Kordofan and Eastern Abyssinia. 



88. Merops nubicus nubicus Gm. 



Zaria, November. 



Specimens from Hausaland and Senegambia agree perfectly with others from 

 N.E. Africa. Merojis nuhicoides agrees in everything so closely with M. nubicus, 

 except in the blue throat and cheeks and somewhat larger size, that I should treat 

 it as a subspecies of the latter. The young in first plumage has even a pale 

 bluish throat, and the two forms represent each other geographically. This was 

 also Parrot's view {Genera Aii/im, Meropidae, p. 8). See also Ibis, 191.5, p. 300. 



89. Melittophagus bullocki bullocki (Vieill.). 



Cf. Neumann, Juurii.f. Orn. I'JOo. p. 191 (not " 18G " !), Zedlitz, oji. cit. 1910. p. 771. 



Zaria, November. 



Neumann and Zedlitz have clearly shown that M. b. frenalus is the eastern 

 subspecies of the western M. b. bullocki, and there can be no doubt whatever that 

 their view is thoroughly correct. See also Ibi.i, 1915, p. 298. 



