( 623 ) 



•'<. Malaconotus blanchoti (!^iteph.). 



Malaconotns hlanrhoti .Stej)h., in (Shaw's Zool. xiii. (182')) ji. 101 (ex Levaillant, 

 South Africa). 



(I liave lor the present, in iinler to iivoid a niisnnilcrstanding, adopted the 

 above uaiue, but if MalacoiiotKs is finally separated from the birds called Chloro- 

 p/ioiieus and Cosmophonciis by Neumann, ././'. 0. IsOi), then Vieiliot's name oliraceits, 

 based on Levaillant's " Pie-grieche Blanchot," must be adopted, but if Malaconotus 

 is not recognised, then olicaceux cannot stand, on account of .Shaw's oUraceug. 



?. Escarj)ment Ooijd ft., February I'.mi. "Iris orange-yellow, feet grey, 

 bill black." 



This specimen agrees perfectly with South African blancholi, not with the form 

 from Mombasa (reaching from Pangani north to Shoa), which I think must be 

 called MalMoiwtKS appro-rimaiis, though I am not sure which of all the allied forms 

 should be treated binomially and which trinomially. 



If any genera of Luniariiime, or one might almost say of Laniidae, are allowed, 

 it is impossible to unite these big-billed Shrikes with Laniarius, and their generic 

 name must be Malaconotus. 



9. Chlorophoneus dohertyi (W. Rothschild). 



(Plate IX,) 



Laniarius (lohertyi llothsch., Jhill. B. (>. C. xi. March I'.Hil. p. .V2 (" Nauili 

 Escarpment" — errore. The types and other specimens are from the Kiknyu 

 Mountains above the Escarpment station of the Mombasa-Uganda railway). 



J ad. Upper surface bright olive-green ; entire forehead to a line connecting 

 the centres of the eyes crimson. Lores, a narrow lino around the eyes, a wide line 

 from the eyes to the pectoral crescent, including the ear-coverts, as well as a fifteen 

 to eighteen millimetres' wide pectoral crescent, separating the crimson throat from 

 the yellow breast and abdomen, pure black. Chin, entire throat, and under tail- 

 coverts crimson. Breast, abdomen, and thighs bright yellow, sides of breast and 

 abdomen olive-green. QuilLs deep blackish slate, outer webs olive-green ; imder 

 wing-coverts dull green. Tail black, some vety freshly moulted specimens with 

 extremely narrow olive tips and outer margins. " Iris deej) brown, feet grey, bill 

 black." Wing 79 — SS (average about 83—84), tail SU— 80, metatarsus 29—30, 

 culmen 17 — 18 mm. (The " S '" with wing 71) is jwssibly wrongly sexed.) 



?. Entirely similar to the adult male in jdumage, but the rectrices with narrow 

 olive-green edges and conspicuously smaller. Wing 77 — 78, tail about 72 — 74 mm. 



Juv. Feathers of ujiperside pale ochraceous with narrow blackish cross-bars, 

 bases greenish, tail olive-greenish, wings olive-green with pale ochraceous tips to 

 the quills and wing-coverts. Throat dull yellow ; sides of head, chest, upper breast 

 yellow with blackish tips and bars, abdomen uniform lemon-yellow, siiles of iiody 

 greenish. Under tail-coverts red, but not bright crimson. (9UUU ft., March I'.IOI.) 



Sjiecimens moulting from this juvenile plumage to that of the adult bird were 

 shot in December llHUi ( ? ), and March I'.iOl (ci). 



Of this most beautiful sjiecies of the brilliant genus Chlorojthoiieus (^I'rum which 

 1 cannot sejiarate '^ Cosnio/j/ioncus'" of Neumann) Doherty sent us 19 sijecimcas 

 There is no duulit about the similarity of the sexes : first because thev dill'er in size 



