1 92 1.] collected in Southern Cameroon. 97 



honour of Mr. Wells, of the bird-room, British Museum, 

 who first drew my attention to the differences between the 

 Cameroon and Angola birds. We iiave in the British 

 Museum collection a good series of birds from Uganda, 

 the Belgian Congo, Cameroon, northern Angola, the Gold 

 Coast, and a single bird from Nyasaland. When these 

 birds are laid out in geographical order, it is at once 

 apparent that two forms are represented, but the distri- 

 bution of the two is at first puzzling. 



To begm with, Cabanis (J. f. O. 188.2, p. 230) described 

 Cercococcyx mechowi from Angola from a specimen obtained 

 by IMajor von !Mechow. No particulars are given as to 

 the exact place where JNTcchow obtained his type, ])ut I 

 have ascertained that this German traveller made an expe- 

 dition into northern Angola and published a large-scale 

 map (Karte der Knango-Expedition) in 1884 at Berlin. 

 A copy of this may be seen in the map-room of the 

 Royal Geographical Society. Von Mechow appears to 

 have ascended the Kuansa River and prepnrcd the sheets 

 of his map from Dondo to Malange, Avhere he left the 

 Kuansa River and trecked northwards, joining the head- 

 waters of the Cambo River. This river he followed to Tembo- 

 Aluma, where the Cambo joins the Zaida-Kuango. Thence 

 he proceeded by way of the Kuango to Camalamba. No 

 connected account of his journey seems to have been 

 published. We have six birds in the British Museum from 

 northern Angola collected by the late Dr. Ansorge at N'dalo 

 Tando (a place situated on the line between St. Paul 

 de Loando and Kassandje), and these are very different 

 from specimens collected in Cameroon and in Uganda. 



Unfortunately the original description by Cabanis of 

 C. mechowi does not accurately fit either the Angola or the 

 Cameroon and Uganda birds ; but as the genus Cercococcyx 

 was founded on Mechow's specimen obtained in Angola, 

 we must restrict Cercococcyx mechowi mechowi to Angola 

 specimens. 



These Angola bird.', C. m. mechowi Cabanis, have the 

 upper parts greyish brown, strongly Mashed with copper- 



SER. XI. VOL. III. H 



