310 Mr. C. H. B. Grant on a Collection of 



Tachornis parvus myochrous. 



Cypselus myochrous Reichw. Journ. fiir Orn. 1880, p. 116 : 

 Karema, German East Africa. Wing given as 136 mm. 



Tachornis parvus brachypterus. 



Tachornis parvus brachypterus Reichw. Vog. Afr. vol. ii. 

 1903, p. 386 : Gamlna. Wing given as 128-120 mm. 



Two others, Tachornis parvus Imnostigma Reichw. f Vog. 

 Afr. vol. ii. 1905, p. 828 : South Somaliland) and Tachornis 

 parvus griseus Zedl. (Orn. Monatsb. vol. xviii. 1910, p. 58 : 

 Adiabo-Stcppe, N.W. Abyssinia) are, I consider, synonyms 

 of 2\ /J. parvus, especially Zedlitz's name, which is described 

 almost from Lichtenstein's type locality. 



The series of this Swift in the British Museum measure 

 in the wing as follows : — West Africa: Portuguese Guinea, 

 ? 134 ; Senegambia, ^ 138 ; Liberia, ^ 127 (a very dark 

 sooty-coloured bird) ; Cape Coast, no sex, 132 ; Gold Coast, 

 S 126, ? 121, no sex (eleven) 133-121 : Niger, two no sex, 

 125 (one a dark specimen, agreeing with the one from 

 Liberia) ; Gaboon, no sex, 121 & 120 ; between Niger and 

 Lake Chad (Alexander), S 131 & 126, ? 135-126; Island 

 of Fernando Po, ^ 124 & 130, this last a young bird, no sex 

 123; Angola, ^ (^our) 130-124, one young 122, ? (four) 

 130-121, one young 125 ; Damaraland, (^ 129, ? (three) 

 135-126. East Africa : Abyssinia, no sex, 129 ; Sudan, 

 S 135, ? 125, no sex, 123 ; Laniu, S 125, ? 114; British 

 East Africa, (^ 128, ? 135 ; Uganda, S 140, no sex, 141 ; 

 German East Africa, ? 135 ; Zanzibar, no sex, 129 ; 

 Nyasaland, J^ 132; South Africa : Senna, Zambesi, (^ 126, 

 no sex, 134 mm. 



Prof. Reichenow has himself pointed out that very little 

 reliance can be placed on the coloration ; with this I concur, 

 and it also seems to me that no great reliance can be placed on 

 the wing-measurement, at least, as shown by the specimens 

 enumerated above. Under these circumstance I prefer for 

 the present to place the two specimens in this collection 

 under the oldest name. 



Certainly birds from Madagascar are decidedly darker 

 than the majority of those on the mainland of Africa, and 



