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



other and lias a distinct red and yellow streak on the belly, 

 as opposed to the plain belly of the other specimen. 



[Irides brown ; bill black, base of lower mandible bluish; 

 legs and toes grey or dirty plumbeous.] 



An examination of the large series in the British Museum 

 shows that a certain amount of individual variation occurs 

 among birds from the same locality, so that only general 

 features can be taken as diagnostic characters ; this allows 

 of only two forms being recognised, a western and an 

 eastern, as follows : — 



MeSOPICUS GOERT^ GOERTiE. 



Picus goertce S. Miill. Linn. Syst. Nat. Suppl, 1776, 

 p. 91 : Senegal ; founded on pi. 320, PL enlum. & Buffon, 

 Hist. Nat. vol. vii. 1780, p. 25. 



Of this, the following must become a synonym : 

 Dendrohates poicephalus Swains. Birds W.Afr. vol. ii. 1837, 

 p. 154 : Western Africa == Gambia, wing given as ^-^q" = 

 109 mm, The description agrees perfectly with M. g. goerta. 

 In the ' Ibis,' 1902, pp. 4.25 & 641, Mr. Ogilvie-Grant and 

 Dr. Sharjjc remark that the differences given by Reichenow 

 for the subspecies do not hold good. With this I agree in 

 some of the cases, but all of these authors have overlooked 

 the fact that M. goer tec and D. poicephalus are synonymous. 



Below paler, washed with yellowish or olive. 



Range. Senegal to the Congo mouth, eastward to the 

 Ubanghi and Welle Rivers. 



MeSOPICUS GOERTiE CENTRALIS. 



Mesopicus goert(B centralis Reich w. op. cit. 



Of this I consider the following must become a synonym : 

 Mesopicus goerta konigi'Nenm. (Orn. Monatsb. 1903, p. 181 : 

 Mutmir, River Nile below Khartum); the characters given 

 being apparently only individual ; any way, specimens before 

 me from the tributaries of the Nile do not difier from the 

 rest of the series. 



Below darker, washed with ashy. 



Range. Uganda to the Sudan and River Nile, westwards 

 to Niam Niam and the Bahr el Ghazal. 



Mesopicus goertfp abessinicus Reichw. (Orn. Monatsb. 



