— 146 — 



Reichenow himself seems to be in doubt in establishing 

 these two Orioles, for in "Vogelf. d. Mittelafr. Seengeb." p, 316 he 

 says, of a specimen from Tanganjika, exactly the same as N e u - 

 m a n n , but adds, that on account of the locality it is placed 

 under auratus. 



The distribution of 0. auratus stretches from Senegarabia 

 to Niger and North-east Africa, and Ogilvie-Grant (Ibis 

 1905, p. 201 and 203) mentions it from Melma and Burumba 

 in Southern Uganda. Butler (Ibis 1909, p. 79) has met it in 

 Soudan, at Raffile and Kojali. 



Supposing that the two species under consideration are 

 good ones, my specimens, at any rate, are not typical 0. notatus, 

 in spite of the fact that the habitat makes it seem likely. 

 Should, on the other hand, notatus and auratus vary in the 

 colour of the outer tail-feathers, as other Oriolus from other 

 territories vary in the colour of the central tail-feathers — it 

 is superfluous to separate them. It is of course not impossible 

 that these individuals are only variations of 0. notatus (a male 

 of which was shot in the same spot). Should this be the case 

 it proves that the character on which this species is based is 

 not good. 



The cf specimen in question is in the moulting stage and 

 the tail-feathers, except the extreme and central ones, are black 

 for Vs of their length. The measurements are as follows: 

 Wing, tarsus, tail, 



133 mm. 22 mm. 75 mm. 



The female specimen also has the web of the outer rec- 

 trices (except at the tips) black and in the middle the black 

 colour passes onto the inner-web. The other tail-feathers, except 

 the central ones, are not only yellow at the tips of the inner- 

 web but have the whole tip of the feather yellow. This yellow 

 patch is rather wide on the outer tail-feathers, but becomes 

 narrower on the inner ones. 



Wing, tarsus, tarsus, 



131 mm. 22 mm. 80 mm. 



Irides blood-red; bill brownish-red; legs blueish grey. 



Oriolus notatus Ptrs. — Rchw. II. p. 656. 

 1 (5 ad. 29. 4. Mombasa. 



Reichenow gives the distribution of this bird to East 

 Africa from Wita to the Zambezi country and South-west Africa. 

 Neave (Ibis 1910, p. 259) says that the race is "not common" 

 at Kaluli (Lualaba, Congo), Grote (J. f. 0. 1913, p. 131) men- 

 tions it from Rovuma (German East Africa) and M o u r i t z 



