Notes on the Ornithology of the Gold Coast. 43 



as that of the female is the winter dress of both sexes. The 

 plumage of the sexes is similar in all Cormorants. This bird 

 is quite as abundant at Napier and in the Firth of the Thames 

 as in any part of the South Island. 



Apteryx mantelli. 



This bird is not so scarce in the North Island as Dr. Buller 

 imagines. In 1866 I heard it at the Waikato coal-mines ; 

 and a few months previously a surveying party killed five at 

 Taupiri^ on the opposite side of the river. The natives also 

 told me that it was common on the Piako ranges. In 1868 

 I heard of four being killed at Howick, and two in the Wai- 

 takerei ranges^ both places being within a few miles of Auck- 

 land ; and I have on several occasions had eggs brought me 

 from Pirongia. 



Wellington, New Zealand. 

 20th June, 1873. 



V. — Notes on the Ornithology of the Gold Coast. 

 By Herbert Taylor Ussher, C.iAI.G., C.M.Z.S., &c. 



(Plate II.) 



The following rough notes have been put together at the 

 request of my friend Mr. Sharpe, who has described in this 

 Journal the collections made by me dunng my residence in 

 Fantee. I am induced to offer them to the readers of ' The 

 Ibis ' as a supplement to his papers ; and as so little is known 

 respecting the economy of West-African birds, I trust they 

 may not l)e devoid of interest. The nomenclatui'e employed 

 is that of Mr. Sharpe's papers in this Journal^, or of his cata- 

 logue of African birds, Dr. HartlauVs well-known work being 

 quoted where the birds are not referred to in the above-men- 

 tioned lists. 



1. Neophron pileatus (Bureh.) : Hartl. Orn. "Westafr. 



p. 1- 



Very plentiful on the Gold Coast, especially in and about 



large towns and villages, where it is the common scavenger, 

 * Ibis, 1869, pp. 186, 381 ; 1870, pp. 52, 470; 1872, p. 60. 



