— 79 — 



the typical wash on the head, which mine lacks. I have com- 

 pared mine with the type-specimen in Berlin. 



In the colours of the dress it agrees entirely with Centropus 

 s. aegyptius Gm. inasmuch as "the mantle and inner secondaries 

 are olive-brown and the flight feathers chestnut". 



Grant says, however, (op. cit. p. 123) that this form is 

 much larger than C. s. senegalensis, which my measurements 

 though do not prove. A specimen found in the Berlin Museum 

 from Fuah (Egypt) has a wing-length of 165 mm., tail 225 mm. 

 Another (9 juv.) has a wing-length of 155 mm., tail 205 mm. 

 Both are, however, considerably darker than the Elgon specimen. 



Grant says, further, that the distribution of C. s. senega- 

 lensis ranges from Senegal to the mouth of the Congo River, 

 eastwards across the Niger, upper Nile, upper Congo and Uganda 

 to Somaliland, but that C. s. aegyptius occurs only in Egypt. 

 The discovery of the bird on Elgon thus establishes that the dis- 

 tribution of the bird towards the east ranges into British Eeast 

 Africa. According to Chubb., senegalensis was found by him 

 in South Rhodesia (Ibis 1909, p. 141, 153) but already in 1874 

 the bird was kown from Bamangvato, Bechuanaland. 



My specimen is in moult and the feathers are much worn 

 (which is in itself noteworthy as the bird has already began to 

 brood) and it is therefore probable that when the new feathers 

 had grown to their full lenght, the measurement of the wing 

 would have been greater. 



Reichenow, who has also examined my specimen, is of 

 the same opinion as myself that it cannot be referred to any of 

 the forms of senegalensis at present known, and therefore owing to 

 the most striking differences — although only one specimen was 

 procured — I have given this bird a new name. It is possible 

 that further specimens from these districts will show that this 

 new form is a synonym of some of those already described and 

 that mine is thus only an aberrant. P'or the present at any 

 rate, I shall name it C. senegalensis incertus. 



The nest was built in a dry, little acacia shrub, growing 

 almost concealed in the grass, more than a man's height, and 

 was situated 30 cm. above the ground in the fork of the two 

 largest thorny branches of the shrub. It was 45 cm. high by 

 26 cm. wide and oblong in shape, provided with a roof and 

 side entrance. The nest-materials were composed only of long 

 blades of grass, both fresh and dry, which were plaited together 

 into an extremely loose and weak structure, the walls of which 

 were so thin that one could see through them. The bottom of 

 the nest itself was, however, stronger and about 5 — 6 cm. thick 

 and lined with the fresh, thick leaves of a bush common on 

 the steppe. 



