Z PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.82 



Family ANATIDAE, Ducks, Geese, Swans 



ANAS ERYTHRORHYNCHA Gmelin 



Anas erythrorhi/ncha GMsajN, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 517, 1789 (Cape of 

 Good Hope). 



An adult male was shot while swimming in a waterhole in the 

 Fish River, 4 miles from Berseba. It was very fat and was badly 

 damaged by shot. 



Family ACCIPITRIDAE, Hawks, Harriers, etc. 



MELIERAX MUSICUS MUSICUS (Dandin) 



Falco mUfHcus Daudin, Trait6, vol. 2, p. 116, 1800 [Cape Province (ex Levail- 

 lant)]. 



An adult, sex undetermined, was shot by a schoolboy at Keet- 

 manshoop. The feet, the cere, and circumocular area were bright 

 reddish orange. 



This bird is of great interest in that it has the cheeks, lores, auric- 

 ulars, forehead, and lateral borders of the crown nearly black, pre- 

 cisely as in the description of Melierax poliopterus coombsi Roberts.^ 

 The question arises as to whether this bird should be called coomhsi, 

 which would then have a range extending across South Africa from 

 the northern Transvaal to Southwest Africa (based on only two 

 specimens, each forming one of the present limits of its range), or 

 whether coombsi should be looked upon as a melanism of invsicus^ 

 occurring here and there throughout the range of the latter. I pre- 

 fer to follow the latter course, as it seems unlikely that a black-faced 

 form, coombsi, and musicus would occur side by side over so great an 

 area. 



The other side of the argument is advanced by Roberts, who claims 

 that musicus and poliopterus are specifically distinct and that M. 

 poliopterus coombsi proves this by virtue of the fact that it occurs 

 together with M. m/usicus in the Zoutpansberg district of the Trans- 

 vaal. It must be admitted that the present specimen may be used to 

 bolster Roberts's thesis, showing how extensively coombsi invades the 

 territory of tnusicv/S, just as legitimately as it has been used here 

 to support the supposition that it is a geographically sporadic 

 melanism. 



Roberts writes that coombsi has the outer secondaries uniformly 

 dark with white tips and some subapical vermiculations. No such 

 condition is present in the specimen obtained by Mrs. Sordahl. 



The bird has the secondaries almost pure white and is therefore 

 probably a male. Its dimensions are as follows : Wing, 345 ; tail, 225 ; 



lAnn. Transvaal Mus., vol. 14, pt. 3, p. 239, 1931 (Montrose Estates, Zoutpansberg). 



