( 410) 



51. Merops gularis Shaw. 

 (J ad. Prahsu, Gold ('oast, 2^. 4. Is'J'J. " Iris red." 



•52. Dicrocercus furcatus (Staul.). 

 6 Gambaga, 2. 12. 1898 ; ? 9. 1. 1899. "Iris red." 



BUCEROTIDAE. 

 53. Lophoceroa nasutus (L.). 

 Gambaga, Februar}' 1898. 



54. Lophoceros erythrorhynchus (Toimu.). 

 Gambaga, 1898. 



UPUPIDAE. 



56. Upupa epops senegalensis Swains. 



? in monlt, Gambaga, 20. 2. 1899. "Iris browu." 



This skin is not at all brighter rnst}' rnfous than European examples. The 

 crest-feathers show but ver_v indistinct whitish bars before the black tips, but 

 some of the feathers are wanting. It is not yet, apparently, quite certain whether 

 the Hoopoe is a resident bird in West Africa, or merely a winter visitor, and the 

 question about its l)eing subspecifically dififerent or not from Upuija epops epops 

 is by no means settled. C'f Cat. B. Brit. Mas. v. XVI. p. T, and .Joarn. f. Oni. 

 1897, p. 2a. 



511. Irrisor viridis senegalensis Vieill. 



? ? Gambaga, K!. 1. and 2o. 8. 1898. 



1 believe there is no doubt that two sub-species of large Jrrisor with dark 

 heads inhabit Africa. One of them has the back, head, and neck golden green, 

 »nd the tail pnrple in fresh plumage ; the other has the back, head, and neck 

 dark green or steel-blue, and the tail, in fresh plumage, steel-blue, with very 

 little or no purple. Tlie former inhabits (Southern Africa, north to Mombasa, the 

 other North-east and West Africa. It is perhaps wiser to regard them as only 

 subspecifically distinct, for the present. There can be no doubt that the name cirklis 

 can only be applied to the southern bird, while that of eri/tkrorhi/nclius, which 

 is used in the Catalogue of Birds, is perhaps doubtful, and senegalen.-<is Vieill. 

 might better be nsed for it. Prof Keichenow (^.Jonrn. f. Orn. 1897, p. 24) mentions 

 only the difference in the cokiur of tlie tail, but he seems to confound his bird 

 from the White Nile, wliich must be the western and north-eastern form, with 

 the southern race. The coppery and olive sheen often seen in the tails of 

 Irrisor is apparently only seen on old feathers. 



CAPRIMULGIDAE. 

 57. Scotornis climacurus (Vieill.). 

 6 6 Gambaga, 18. 2. and 25. 7. 1898. 



