NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXII. 1915. 253 



65. Tyto alba affinis (Lay.) 



Cf. rsg. il.pal Fauna, ii. p. lO.'JS ; Ibis, I9ir,, p. 258 ! 



S ? ad., November 1912, Zaria. 

 S wing 295, ? 287 mm. 



60. Bubo afiicanus cinerascens Gaer. 



Of. Jonrn.f. Orn. UI14, p. 37 ; Ihh, 191o. p. 252. 

 1 ad., proviiu'e of Zaria. 



67. Chizaerhis africana (Lath.) 

 1 ad., Kadsena, Hansaland. 



68. Musophag-a violacea Isert. 

 1 ad., province of Zaria. 



69. Centropus .senegalensis senegalensis (L.l 



(??, Zaria, September and No voralier 1912. 



Also met with along the line from the Niger to the Benegal 



70. Clamator glandarius (L.) 

 One, province of Zaria. 



71. Clamator jacobinus 

 ? an potins 

 Clamator jacobinus pica (Hempr. & Ehr.) 

 ? ad., Zaria, 3.xi. 1912. Wing 163 mm. 



The forms of the " Pied Crested Cuckoo " are as yet insufficiently known ; the 

 fact of its very wide distribution over nearly the whole of Africa south of the 

 Sahara and India is interesting in itself, and should have called forth a careful 

 study. Comparing these birds, I cannot lind any difference in colour, nor could 

 any one else, but it is evident that in Africa larger dimensions are frequently 

 reached than in India. I measure the wings of Indian specimens in the Tring 

 Museum as 146, 140, 147, 149, 150, 153, 153, 153, those of African e.^amples 

 141-5, 147, 147, 150, 151, 1.51-.5, 1.52, 1.52, 153, 154, 154, 154, 154-.5, 1.55, 1.58, 1.59, 

 159, 163, 163, 103; thus we have an average in India of 149-25, against one of 

 153 mm. in Africa. 



In the British Museum, according to the Cat. B. Brit. Mas. xix. p. 218, the 

 largest specimen from Africa e.xceeds the largest Indian one by 8 mm., but the 

 difference in size is not much noticed in that series. Cf. Norman, Ibis 1888, 

 pp. 404-406. 



Are we under these circumstances justified in separating the two doubtful 

 races nominally ? Undoubtedly, though hitherto nearly all ornithologists, with 

 the exception of Cabanis and Heine (cf. Mas. Hein. iv. p. 40 !), have united them, 

 Oberholser, Stresemann and others would separate them, and I am inclined to 

 think that they should not be united without further research. 



This, however, does not end the question of the subspecies of C, jacobinus. 

 There are C. jacobinus hi/popinarus in South Africa, and " C. caroli " from Gabun ! 



