obtained in the Manenguba Mountains. 655 



caused me a considerable amount of trouble to identify^ and 

 even now I am imcertain whether it is rightly referred to 

 this species, as only one specimen was obtained, and this 

 is a particularly pale-coloured bird. Dr. Hartert (Nov. Zool. 

 1900, p. 44) has recognised six forms of Passer diffusus. 

 The wing-measurement of the Ninong bird is 85 mm. ; it is 

 therefore too large to be P. d. ihierryi, which Dr. Hartert 

 considered synonymous with P. d. gularis. Shelley, ' Birds 

 of Africa,' iii. pp. 253-4, gives his reasons for not accepting 

 any of Hartert's subspecies, but it is more than likely that 

 P. d. occidentalis, the rather darker bird inhabiting the 

 forest-region of West Africa, will have to be recognised. 

 The whole group requires very careful revision. 



Reichenow (Vogel Afr. iii. p. 230) revives the name 

 Passer griseus Yie'iW. ior tliis Si)arrow, l)ut there seems to 

 be considerable doubt as to which bird Vieillot's description 

 refers. Apart from the habitat, which is given as ''Etats- 

 unis " (!), the description does not tally with specimens 

 of the Grey-headed African Sparrow which I have examined 

 (vide FringiUa grisea Vieill. Nouv. Diet. xii. 1817, p. 198, 

 and remarks by Ogilvie-Grant, Trans. Zool. Soc. xix. 1910, 

 pp. 304-5). 



33. Seriiius hartlauhi. 



Crithagra hartlaubi BoUe, Journ. fiir Orii. 1858, p. 355 : 

 \V. Africa. 



«. c? inim. (No. 1). Manenguba Mts. ll.vi.09. 



The single male example recorded above has not quite 

 assumed adult plumage. The chin is white and the breast 

 and throat are marked with large black spots. It closely 

 resembles the type of S. pallidigula Reichw., which, as 

 Shelley has pointed out, is founded on the young of 

 S. hartlaubi. In fully adult specimens of S. hartlaubi the 

 head and back of the neck appear to become grey. In my 

 paper on the " Birds of St. Thomas' Island," I correctly 

 referred two specimens obtained there to this species, but 

 specimen No. 89 is not quite adult, as the head is not 

 grey. It appears to lose the white chin (which is likewise 

 a sign of immaturity) before assuming the grey head. 



