440 Mr. J. II. Gurneys' Notes on 



approaches the equator, the peculiarities which Mr. Sharpc 

 indicates as specially characteristic of F. tanypttrus, and 

 which may perhaps amount to a valid subspecific distinction. 



The changes of plumage in F. fddegyii appear to me to be 

 correctly described by Mr. Sharpe in his article on this 

 species and the accompanying footnote ; and a similar se- 

 quence of changes seems also to obtain in the darker race 

 constituting the subspecies " tanypterus." 



Lord Lilford has been so good as to inform me that in the 

 Spanish nestlings oiF.feldeygii which he has seen the ground- 

 colour of the crown of the head has been a decided rufous, 

 instead of being either white or very pale whitish rufous, as is 

 usual in very young African specimens. Each feather in the 

 crown has a dark shaft-mark, which in young birds is brown, 

 and in some individuals so broad as to give the upper surface 

 of the head the appearance of being more tinged with dull 

 brown than with any other hue; this latter peculiarity I have 

 especially observed in young birds from Egypt. In the adult 

 birds these shaft-marks on the head are black instead of 

 brown, and vary in breadth as much as in younger specimens ; 

 but with this peculiarity, which is less prevalent in the 

 younger birds, viz. that the shaft-marks are usually broadest 

 and most conspicuous in the foi'chead, immediately behind 

 the whitish frontal line. In many, perhaps most, of the 

 adults of the paler race these shaft-marks on the head are 

 very narrow and inconspicuous ; but in other individuals of 

 tlie paler race they are well marked. In the adults of the 

 darker race, and especially in those from the countries 

 watered by the White and Blue Nile, these shaft-marks form 

 a black patch on the forehead, extending backwards to just 

 behind the eyes. 



The nape, which shows a variable amount of black 

 mingled with rufous in the paler and more northern birds, 

 exhibits in the more southern and darker form a large trian- 

 gular nuchal patch of black slightly tinged with chocolate ; 

 in addition to which, the latter race has the plumage gene- 

 rally more deeph' coloured, the rufous portion being richer, 



