64 Mr. P. L. Sclater on Empidonax brunneus. 



them with the rifle : the stomach of one contained bits of 

 dry gamCj skin, and bones, picked np at a deserted Boer 

 camp close by ; that of the other was crammed full of what 

 appeared to be horse-dung. 



These birds generally come with the Vultures, and with 

 them may be seen circling round at great altitudes ; like the 

 Vultures, they often settle about on the trees before alighting 

 on the ground to commence a meal. 



[Although the specimens sent were killed beyond the 

 Transvaal boundary, yet, as Mr. Walter Ayres has met with 

 other specimens within that limit, I include the species in 

 the Transvaal list. — J. H. G.] 



404'. Dendrocygna viDUATA (Linn.). White-masked Duck. 



Female, shot 13th November, 1885. 



This, with us very scarce Duck, was shot by my friend 

 Mr. J. Taylor, of Potchefstroom ; he saw fifteen of these 

 Ducks sitting in a shallow drift of the Movi river, just above 

 Potchefstroom, and succeeded in bagging seven with a right 

 and left shot, one of which he kindly gave to me. These birds 

 must have wandered from some distant haunts, as this is 

 certainly not their habitat, though I remember having seen 

 one many years ago in a vley about six miles from Potchef- 

 stroom. 



Ill, — On Empidonax brunneus and its allied Species. 

 By P. L. Sclater. 



At Mr. Ridgway's kind request the authorities of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution have most obligingly sent over to me for 

 examination the typical specimens of Empidonax brunneus, 

 together with examples of Empidochanes fringillaris, and of 

 the (so-called) E. oliva, concerning which Mr. Ridgway has 

 written in the last number of this Journal {' Ibis,' 1886, 

 p. 460). In his Empidonax brunneus I at once recognized 

 the bird which I have heretofore usually called Empidochanes 

 fuscatus. But Mr. Ridgway has been able to examine the 

 original types of Muscipeta fuscata of Pr. Max., and has shown 



