Birds froin Briiish East Africa and Uganda. 295 



witli top of head. Vounfj birds distinctly paler above and 

 below than the young ol! M. p. meridionalis. 



Range. Senegal to Nigeria and. Lake Chad district. 



Mklittophagus pusillus cyanostictus. 



Melittuphagus cyanostictus Cab. op. cit. 



In the Bull. B. O. C. vol. x. 1899, p. 26, Hartert asserts 

 that Cabanis' " cijanostictus '' is described from Natal, and 

 renames the East African bird under the name of }feUtto- 

 phagus sharpei ; but in this he is undoubtedly mistaken, as 

 Cabanis distinctly gives Mombasa as his type locality, as 

 has since been pointed out by lleicheuow in the Orn. 

 Monatsb. 1900, p. 86. 



Size as in M. p. pusillus ; neck-patch as follows : next to 

 yellow throat a very narrow line of emerald-green, below 

 this a line of i)lue and rest of patch black, washed with blue 

 inmost specimens; superciliary stripe broad and distinct; 

 forehead blue, uniform with supercilium. The one young 

 bird before me is darker above and below than the young 

 of M. p. meridionalis, 



Bange. Southern Abyssinia, Somaliland, British East 

 Afiica, to Teita, German East Africa. 



Melittophagus pusillus meridionalis. 



Melittophagus meridionalis Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mua. 

 vol. xvii. 1892, p. 45 : Natal. 



As I cannot see any difference between Nubian specimens 

 and those from south Africa, the M. p. ocularis Reichw. 

 (Orn. Monatsb. 1900, p. 86: Nubia, N.E. Africa), must 

 become a synonym. 



Size as in M. p. pusillus. General colour less golden ; 

 neck-patch black, with a very narrow line of blue between 

 the black and the yellow throat; superciliary stripe distinct ; 

 forehead uniform with top of head. The young birds are 

 distinctly darker above and below than the young birds 

 of M. p. pusillus, but not so dark as the single young bird 

 before me of M. p. cyanostictus. 



Range. Natal and south Africa generally, north to the 

 Congo River mouth on the west ; on the east to Dar-es- 

 Salaam, German East Africa, and across to A'ictoria Nyanza, 



