( :4) 



2S. Corvultur albicollis (Lath.). 



June, July, Upper Shiri River. " Bill black, with horny white tip; iridcs dark 

 brown; legs and feet shiny black. The stomachs of three contained fish-scales, 

 bones, seeds, and horrid-smelling putrid matter." The latter probably flesh from 

 carrion. 



29. Dryoscopus major (Hartl.). 



June to August, Upper Shird River. J. "Bill black; iris dark browu; feet 

 dark slate-colour. Generally frequenting dense cover, somewhat skulking in its 

 habits ; alarm-note a very harsh ' chnrrr-churrrr,' which is often uttered while the 

 bird bows before j'ou." 



30. Telephonus senegalus (L.). 

 September 22nd, Monkey Bay. " Iris stone-grey." 



31. Dicrurus afer (Licht.). 



Evidently common on the Upper Shire River. 



The name afer {Corvus afer Licht., Cat. Rer. Nat. Ilamh. p. 10) has been 

 rojpcted by Sharpe and other authors on acconut of the existence of a CorcMS afer of 

 Linnaeus. As, liowever, Linnaeus' C. afer is no Dicrurus, Shelley (Birds of Africa 

 I. p. 47) is right in adopting the name afer for our Drongo. It has been customary 

 among ornithologists to reject all names which were once used before under the 

 same generic name, but no harm can arise from using the same name in widely 

 different genera. The rule "once a sj-nonym always a synonym," as regards specific 

 names, is not adopted in the German Zoological Society's rales of nomenclature. 

 The sooner it is abolished by ornithologists the better. Those who have adopted 

 it so long have not taken into consideration the consequences ; namely, that by 

 adopting snch a system any recent author may, by mistake or carelessness, or out 

 of evil will, degrade hundreds of existing names to synonyms. 



32. Hirundo smithi Leach. 



In May and July, Upper Shire River, nesting. A pair built a nest of clay 

 against one of the rafters in a store in July. 



33. Hirundo rustica L. 

 February, Upper Shir^ River. 



[It is strange that the collection contained no specimen of an Oriole, but to make 

 up for this want I may be allowed to mention that the Rothschild Museum has some 

 time ago received from Ngurn, in German East Africa, a fine pair of 



Oriolus chlorocephalus Shelley, 

 which was described from Mount Cbiradzulu, in the Shirfi Highlands, Nyassaland, 

 of which, as far as I am aware, only the type-specimen is known.] 



34. Coracias caudatus L. 



July and August, Upper Shire River and Kambwe, Lake Nyassa. " Bill black; 

 iris brown; legs dull yellowish horn-colour; feet darker." Stomachs of all full of 

 beetles, locusts, Gryllidae. Sits often on a dead tree, from which it hawks for 

 insects. Harsh grating alarm-note." 



