obtained in British East Africa. 49 



S. nigricans, iu whicli, as Mr. Neumann justly remarks, the 

 black of the head fades oflp gradually into the black of the 

 back. 



Sigmodus intermedins I cannot judge of, as the Museum 

 possesses no specimens from Tanganyika or the Victoria 

 Nyanza. It is described by Mr, Neumann as a little lighter 

 in colour than typical S. retzii. 



S. tricolor, of whicli we have the types in the Museum, is 

 an inhabitant of the Zambesi and Nyasa regions, whence we 

 have a considerable series. It varies a good deal in the tint 

 of the back, and quite as much as Mr. Neumann^s western 

 races of S. retzii ; but I believe the variation as regards 

 S. tricolor to be due to the wear and tear of the plumage, tlie 

 darker ones being those in fresher feathering. The Museum 

 has examples of S. tricolor from Oliphant's Hiver in the 

 Transvaal {T. Ayres), and from Mozambique (//. S. H. 

 Cavendish: cf. Sharpe, Ibis, 1900, p. 112). To the north- 

 ward in East Africa, we have specimens from Dar-es- 

 Salaam, Mamboio, and Ugogo, obtained by Sir John Kirk 

 (Shelley, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 581), as well as from the Usambara 

 Hills. Here and at Mamboio also occurs true S. gracu- 

 linus Cab., a species represented in the Museum from 

 Dar-es-Salaam, Mombasa, and Lamu ; but from the Usam- 

 bara Hills are two specimens showing only a faint trace of 

 the white spots on the primaries, and suggestive of the 

 interbreeding of S. tricolor and S. yraculinus. 



It must also be noticed that the more northern specimens 

 of S. tricolor, from Ugogo and other places in East Africa, 

 are of a decidedly lighter drab colour on the back than is the 

 case with the Nyasa series as a whole ; but in the latter are 

 many light-backed individuals, and an absolute intergrada- 

 tion between dark and light forms can be traced.— R. B. S.] 



152. Bradyornis murinus. 



Bradyornis murinus Finsch & Hartl. ; Reichen. Vog. 

 deutsch. Ost-Afr. p. 152 (1894) ; Shelley, B. Africa, i. p. 93 

 (1896) ; Hinde, Ibis, 1898, p. 580 (N'Goleni, Machako^s) ; 

 O. Neum. J. f. O. 1900, p. 258. 



SEB. VIII. — VOL. I. E 



