48 Mr. F. J. Jackson on Birds 



No. 66. S juv. Kedong Valley, April 17, 1896. Feet 

 pale orange. 



[A very distinct species. It has a long crest like P. plu- 

 matus, but composed of slaty-grey plumes. The fore part of 

 the crown and sides of face are pearly grey^ recalling 

 P. talacoma, and the white greater coverts and white-edged 

 secondaries are also like those of P. talacoma, and differ from 

 the entirely black wings of P. cristatus. 



One of Mr. Jackson^s specimens is a young bird. It is 

 much more dingily coloured than the adult, the general colour 

 of the upper surface disclosing a tinge of brown; the white 

 on the wing-coverts and secondaries is not quite so much 

 extended; the head is of a dingy grey ; and the crest-feathers 

 are shorter and of a dull slate-colour. — R. B. S.] 



151. SiGMODUS GRACULINUS. 



Sigmodus retzii graculinus (Cab.) ; O. Neum. J. f. O. 

 1900, p. 274. 



a. Ad. Samia_, Kavirondo, Nov. 1894. 

 [Mr. Oscar Neumann (Orn. MB., June 1899, pp. 89-91) 

 has given a review of the genus Sigmodus, and recognises 

 the following races of the S. 7'etzii group : — 

 Sigmodus retzii nigricans. 

 „ (typical). 

 „ „ intermedins. 



„ „ tricolor. 



,, ,, graculinus. 



Of the first four forms with a white band on the primaries 

 below, the British Museum seems to have the true S. retzii 

 from Damara-land (c/. Sharpe, Cat. B. iii. p. 324). From 

 the Congo {Sharpe Coll.) and from Humbe {Shelley Coll.) 

 are two specimens obtained by Anchieta, apparently 

 Sigmodus nigricans of Neumann, which therefore is not 

 confined to Northern Angola, as its describer believed. 

 As regards the blue or green gloss on the black head and 

 underparts, it is difficult to see any diff'erence in the 

 Museum specimens ; but in true S. retzii the brown back is 

 certainly more sharply defined from the head than in 



