174 Capt. G. E. Shelley on Birds 



80. CoLius AFFiNis Sliclley. 



Colius strlatus (nee Grin.) Shelley, Ibis, 1897, p. 545, 

 Nyika, Ukala Bay and Fort Hill; 1898, p. 555, Karouga, 

 Nkata. 



Colius affinis Shelley, Ibis, 1899, p. 276, Ikawa and Fife. 



The specimens from the above-mentioned localities belong 

 to C. affinis, as Avell as two in the present collection from 

 Dedza in Angoniland ; but one of the latter has not got the 

 characteristic pale mark on the upper mandible, which is 

 entirely black as in C. striatus. Possibly this may be a 

 hybrid, as Mr. Alexander Whyte procured at Zomba, some 

 50 miles south, a typical example of C. striatus. 



Owing to Sigmodus tricolor and S. gracuUnus apparently 

 interbreeding at the Pangani River, I had considered these 

 two forms to belong to one species (see P. Z. S. 1881, p. 581) ; 

 Mr. Oscar Neumann, in his article on the genus Sigmodus 

 (Orn. Monatsb. 1899, p. 91), takes a different view of this 

 matter, and probably a more correct one than I did in 1881, 

 when subspecies were not so readily admitted. 



86. CucuLUs CANORUs Linn. 



This collection contains the first examples of the Common 

 Cuckoo we have received from Nyasaland. They are two 

 immature birds in the rufous plumage, but one of them is 

 mottled with apparently fresh grey feathers as if it was 

 about to discard the rufous for the ordinary plumage. 



90. Trachyphonus cafer (Vieill.). 



These specimens come from the most northern locality 

 known for typical examples of this species. It ranges south 

 into Zululand and Natal, the latter country being its most 

 western limit. In German East Africa it is replaced by a 

 nearly allied subspecies, T. suahelicus Reichen. 



97. Scops cAPENsis Smith. 



This Owl is distributed over the whole of South Africa, 

 but it is a rare bird in collections. This is the first time it 

 has been recorded from Nyasaland. 



119. QUERQUEDULA CAPENSIS (Gm.). 



Although this species has not been previously recorded 



