( 56 ) 



■-'. Onycoguathus intermedius sp. uov. 



In May last the Tring Mnsenm received some skins from the Congo wliicli wore 

 i'i)llected by the Kev. F. O. Harrisou, and among them was an Onycognathas, which 

 stands in size midway between tlie two known species of the genns — i.e. 0. ful(ji<las 

 Hartl. and 0. liarthnibi Gray. While the wings of 0. fulgidtis measure fully 

 fV4 inches, the tail 6-8, the cnlmeu !■•"), and while the same measurements of 

 U. hartlaubi (as given by Sharpe, Cat. B., xiii., p. l(5fi) are : wing, 4-6 ; tail, 4-5 ; 

 (iilmen, ]•!, my specimen measures : wing, 5'3 : tail, TrS ; cnlmen, 1'4 ; tarsus, 1-1. 

 In colour 0. harthmhi liardly differs percejitibly from 0. Jtdgidus, nor does my 

 (J. intermedius, but the colour of the neck of the latter is somewhat more of the 

 rather bluish purple of 0. hartlaubi. Above and below the colour is a metallic 

 glossy purple, the head and neck greenish bluish purple ; tlie wing-(|uills are 

 chestnut blackish towards the tip. The type-specimen is a male, and was shot at 

 Lukolele on the Congo. The iris was scarlet. A second specimen, from Yambnya 

 on the Aruwimi River, collected by the late Mr. J. S. Jameson, and recorded as 

 0. hartlaubi by Cajriain Shelley in Ibis, 189(1, p. 164, and in Stor^/ of the I'rar- 

 Coluntn, p. 421, and in which the wing measures o-l, the tail Ti-.j, would also belong 

 to 0. ititermedius. 



We should thus have the case of three species forming one genus all of which 

 are distinguished in size only, but they really seem to belong to three different 

 forms, though it is quite possilile that additional materials from the adjoining 

 countries may contain transitional forms, and that therefore 0. intermedius would 

 deserve snbspecific rank rather than specific, and this I believe so much more as 

 a specimen from the Xiam-Niam country seems larger tlian 0. hartlaubi, on an 

 average. 



Owjcognathus J ulgidus inhabits the island of St. Thomas, 



0. hartlaubi is found along the West Coast to Niam-Niam, and 



0. intermedins is a form of the Congo Basin. 



3. Chaetura cassini Sd. 



Two sjiecimens of this rare Swift an- among the birds from the Arnwinii Kiver, 

 from whence it was previously recorded by Shelley, Ibis, 18'J0, p. 168. 



In comparing my description of this species in Cat. B., xvi., p. 488, I am sorry 

 to detect a very misleading error, probably a penslij) or misprint, for instead of 

 " sides of body and under TAiL-coverts Idackish " it should be " sides of body and 

 under wiNG-coverts blackish." Although the words standing just above, " remainder 

 of under surface white," might suggest the error, it might easily cause mis- 

 understandings. 



