Mr. T. Ayres on the Ornithology of Transvaal. 393 



pp. 229, 230, distinct from both P. nigricans and P. tricolor, 

 and also from P. capensis ; and as Mr. Layard unfortunately 

 did not give it a specific name, I propose to call it, after him, 

 Pycnonotus layardi. 



The nearest allies of P. layardi appear to me to be P. ni- 

 gricans and the more northern P. xanthopygus. From P. 

 nigricans it seems only to differ in the throat (as distinguishd 

 from the chin) being dark brown instead of black, in the eye- 

 lids being (to use the words of Captain Shelley in ' The Ibis ' 

 for 1875, p. 74) " black, thick, but not wattled," and in the 

 iris being, as observed by Mr. Ayres, " umber," or " dusky 

 umber," instead of '' red-hazel," or '' bright hazel," or, in 

 the words of Mr. Andersson, "rather pale yellowish red""^. 



In Mr. Dresser's article in the ' Birds of Europe ' on P. xan- 

 thogypus, he points out the differences between that species 

 and P. layardi, speaking, however, of the latter as "P. 

 nigricans." 



In company with Mr. Sharpe, I have recently compared a 

 Transvaal specimen of P. layardi with the type of P. tricolor 

 from Angola, which is preserved in the British Museum ; and 

 I believe I may state Mr. Sharpe now agrees with me in 

 considering the two specifically distinct. 



In P. tricolor the upper surface of the head is a decided 

 brown, scarcely darker than the brown of the back, whilst 

 in P. layardi it forms a distinct black cap ; the entire mantle 

 is a purer and richer brown in P. tricolor than in P. layardi, 

 in which latter it is slightly tinged with greyish olive. P. 

 tricolor also differs from P. layardi in the almost entire 

 absence of any tinge of black from the sides of the head and 

 from the chin, and in the much more sharply defined boun- 

 dary between the brown of the breast and the white of the 

 abdomen, as shown in the figure of this species in the P. Z. S. 

 1871, pi. 7. fig. 2. 



P. tricolor appears to be entirely a South-west African 

 form, ranging from the Congo to Damaral and, which appears 

 to be its southern limit. 



It may be serviceable to add the following measui'ements, 

 * * Birds of Damara Land/ p. p. 120. 



