Birds of Cameroon Mountain. 515 



3. Nesocharis capistrata (Hartl.). 

 = A^. sharpii (Nicholson). 

 Type loc, West Africa. 

 Range. Senegambia to Dahomey. 



It should be remarked that the tail in N. ansorgei and 

 N. capistrata is very much longer than that of N. shelleyi 

 and extends beyond the outstretched feet. 



The birds obtained by Alexander in Cameroon I have 

 unquestionably referred to Nesocharis shelleyi^ although 

 that species has hitherto been represented in collections by 

 females only. 



A comparison between female examples of N. shelleyi and 

 N. ansorgei in the British Museum and Jackson collections 

 shows that in each species the female differs from the male 

 bird in a similar manner, viz. : — 



The female of N. ansorgei lacks the wide band of golden- 

 olive which extends across the entire chest of the male, and 

 has the underparts from the narrow white collar to the 

 under tail-coverts uniformly grey. 



The female of iV. shelleyi resembles the female of N. an- 

 sorgei in having the underparts grey and in having no 

 golden-olive on the chest. In N. shelleyi the female has the 

 grey of the underparts a shade lighter than in the male bird, 

 but this is not noticeable *in the specimens of N. ansorgei 

 which I have examined. 



The male of N. shelleyi I have already described in the 

 Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club as follows : — 



Entire head and upper part of the throat jet-black; a wide 

 grey band on the nape dividing the black head from the rest 

 of the upperparts, which are golden-olive becoming brighter 

 on the rump ; upper tail-coverts, which extend over two- 

 thirds of the tail, golden-yellow ; tail black. Primaries very 

 dark brown, margined on the outer web with golden-olive ; 

 under wing-coverts white. Lower part of the throat and 

 breast golden-olive ; belly, flanks, and under tail-coverts 

 dark french grey, darker than in the female. Bill bluish- 

 horn-colour. 



