296 Mr. M. J. Nicoll — Contributions 



described as resembling the " cheep ^' o£ a very young chicken 

 in distress ; by this it may be easily distinguished from the 

 typical ChiffchaflP, and so loud is the note that the bird, makes 

 its presence known at some distance. All those that I have 

 met with seem much shyer than the typical form^ and conse- 

 quently are much more difficult to obtain. They are winter 

 residents here, and are smaller and darker than typical 

 specimens. 



43. ScoTocERCA iNQUiETA (Crctzsch.). (Plate IV.) 



Malurus inquietus Cretzschmar, in Riippell's Atlas. 



Cur7'uca fumula Hemp. & Ehrenb. Symb.Phys.fol. bb, 1833. 



Drymceca eremita Tristram, Ibis, 1867, p. 76. 



Drymoeca inquieta Heuglin,Ornith. No rdost- Africa's, vol. i. 

 p. 244. 



Scotocerca inquieta innesi Nicoll, Bull. B. O. C. vol. xxi. 

 p. 98 (May 1908). 



The Egyptian examples of Scotocerca appear to be iden- 

 tical with birds from the typical locality — Sinai, though they 

 are quite distinct from Asiatic specimens. The latter are 

 greyer above and lack the white superciliary stripe of 

 the typical form. The Scotocerca inquieta innesi which I 

 described from Egypt must therefore be referred to the 

 typical form. When comparing my examples at the British 

 Museum I — seeing only Asiatic specimens and finding that 

 these were labelled " Scotocerca inquieta," and that both 

 Dresser (Man. Pal. Birds, p. 142) and Sharpe ('Hand-list/ 

 vol.iv. p. 234) gave the range of Scotocerca inquieta (Cretzsch.) 

 as from Arabia Petraea to N.W. Punjaub and N.W. of the 

 Indus — ventured to describe the Egyptian bird as a new 

 form. Dr. Hartert subsequently pointed out my mistake 

 to me and I take this opportunity of correcting it. 



The typical Scotocerca inquieta is found in Egypt near 

 Cairo, and in Palestine and Sinai, the Persian and Trans- 

 caspian birds belonging to distinctly different subspecies. 



At present I only know of one locality in Egypt where 

 this " Scrub-Warbler '^ may be met with, i. e. the Wadi Hof, 

 near Helwan in the Giza Province. This Wadi Hof is a 



