Mr. E. L. Layard on South-African Ornithology. 229 



Other identifications I leave for the forthcoming revised edi- 

 tion of my ' Birds of S. Africa ; ' but, in anticipation of it, I may 

 mention that two new birds have been added by me to the 

 South-African fauna, both shot by myself in the Eastern Pro- 

 vince, at and near Grahara^s Town : — 



First, Hir undo 2)11611(1, Temm., which was found by Dr. Edwin 

 Atherstone at Graham^s Town, and by me in large flocks^ perch- 

 ing on the ground on the open space round the Fort at Com- 

 mittee's Drift, in which ruin the residents in the neighbourhood 

 assured me it built. It has also been received from Natal by 

 Mr. Sharpe. It was not found by M. Verreaux at the Cape. 

 Its chief habitat seems the Fantec country, whence Mr. Sharpe 

 has several specimens. 



Secondlj'^, a Pycnonotus, which Mr. Sharpe believes to be 

 identical with P. tricolor [Ixos tricolor, Hartlaub) from Angola. 

 I confess I do not quite agree with hi in, though I admit that the 

 species run much into one another. In an Angola specimen 

 before me, which Mr. Sharpe takes to be a bird in full plumage, 

 the upper parts, including the head, and wing- and tail-feathers, 

 are of a uniform rufous bi'own, differing considerably from the 

 blacker brown of a young bird of the Cape race. Though the 

 colour of the back approaches that of a fine adult male shot 

 by me in March, that specimen has dark black-brown wings 

 and tail-feathers, and a very distinct dark cap on its head, not 

 visible in the young bird. Again, P. tricolor has the brown 

 of the chest much more distinctly marked, and separated from 

 the pale (nearly white) abdominal region ; in the Cape bird the 

 abdomen is of a confused whitey-brown, which mingles with the 

 brown of the chest. P. tricolor has the inside of the shoulders 

 nearly pui-e white ; in the other this is brown. The yellow vent of 

 the Cape bird is also much deeper, and more brilliant in colour. 



I know that not much dependence can be placed on the length 

 of a stuffed skin ; but the general appearance of the Cape bird 

 is more robust than the Angola specimen of P. tricolor. Careful 

 measurements show the following results : — 



Length. Wing. Tail. Tai-sun. Hinder nail. Eill. 



Angola bird 7" 3'" 3" 7'" 3" 6'" 9'" 3'" 7'" 



Cape bird 8" 3" 10'" 3" 8'" 11'" 3^" S^'" 



