252 TIMELirD^. 



a. Ad. sk. Cape Palmas. L. Fraser, Esq. [0.]. 



(Type of species.) 



b. Ad. sk. Cape Palmas (Fraser). Eyton Collection. 



Juv. sk. Coudd, Congo. Mr. L. Petit [C 



a 



d. Juv. sk. Eio Massala, Congo. Mr. L. Petit [C 



9. Cisticola rufa. 



Drymoica riifa, Fraser, P. Z. S. 1843, p. 17 ; id. Zool. lyp. pi. 42. 



lig. 3 (1849) ; Allen (§• Thomps. Exped. Niger, ii. p. 491 (1848) ; 



Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 198, no. 2758 (1869). 

 Drymreca nifa, Hartl. Orn. W.-Afr. p. .58 (1867). 

 Di'-sauoeca bracbyptera, Sharpe, Ibis, 1870, p. 476, pi. xiv. fig. 1 ; id. 



Cat. Afr. B. p. 31 (1871) ; Shelley | Buckley, Ibis, 1872, p. 287. 

 Cisticola bracbyptera, Sharpe ^- Boiivier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, ii. 



p. 476 (1877) ; Bocaye, Orn. Ajigola, p. 554 (1881) ; Hartl. 



Ahhandl. nat. Ver. Bremen, viii. p. 190 (1882). 

 Cisticola bypoxantba, Hartl. P. Z. S. 1880, p. 624. 



Adult. General colour above uuiform dark brown, a little more 

 reddish brown on the rump and upper tail- coverts ; lesser wing- 

 coverts like the back, some of the outer ones with fulvous margins ; 

 median and greater coverts, bastard-wing feathers, primary-coverts 

 and quills dusky brown, externally edged with rufous, deeper and 

 more chestnut on the latter ; tail-feathers dusky brown, with rufous- 

 brown margins, the feathers tipped with lighter brown, before 

 which is a perceptible blackish shade on all but the two centre 

 feathers, which have not a paler tip : crown of the head a little 

 darker than the back ; lores and a narrow eyebrow whitish, the 

 hinder part of the latter slightly washed with rufous ; feathers 

 roimd the eye whitish ; ear-coverts brown, with narrow whitish 

 shaft-lines ; cheeks and throat dull whitish ; fore neck and breast 

 reddish buif, deeper on the sides of the body and flanks ; abdomen 

 whitish ; thighs tawny brown ; under tail-coverts reddish buff; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries tawny buff; quills below dusky ; 

 inner edge of quills rufous. Total length 3'3 inches, culmen 0"45, 

 wing 1-65, tail 1*25, tarsus 0'65. 



This species appears to have a striated stage, when the head and 

 back have blackish-brown stripes ; the only example I have seen in 

 this stage is a bird killed by the late Governor Ussher at Christians- 

 borg, Accra, in December 1879. Whether it is the full winter 

 plumage I am unable to say. 



Young. Very similar to the adult, but yellow underneath with 

 reddish-brown flanks. 



Hah. West Africa, from the Gold Coast to the Congo. Also 

 occurring at Lado in E"quatorial Africa. 



a, b. Ad. sk. West Africa. L. Fraser, Esq. [C.]. (Types 



of species.) 



e. Imm. sk. River Gambia. Purchased. 



d, e,f. Ad. sk. River Volta ( Ussher). R. B. Sharpe, Esq. (Types 



of D. brachyptera.) 



g, h. Ad. sk. Accra. Governor Ussher [C], 



i. Juv. sk. Gaboon. M. A. Bouvier. 



k, I, Ad. sk. Cond^, Congo {Ih\ Lvcan), M. A. Bouvier. 



