114 Mr. D. A. Bannerman on rare Birds [Ibis, 



Sarothrura pulchra svibsp. 



Examination o£ the Rails formerly named Sarothrura 

 pulchra (Gray) reveals the interesting fact that there are 

 apparently three or fonr distinct races of this form, as 

 has already been pointed ont l)y Nenmann. The type of 

 Crex pulchra Gray [Griffith's Cuv. Anim. King. vol. viii. 

 Aves, p. 410] is in the British Museum. It is an adult male, 

 but the sex Avas not ascertained. The only locality on the 

 label is " Africa.^' In the Catalogue of Birds, vol. xxiii. 

 p. 117, "West Africa" is supplemented for the locality from 

 which it was obtained. In the original description no type 

 locality is mentioned. 



The next mention of this Rail is in Gray\s Zool. Miscell. 

 1831, p. 13, where no locality is mentioned either. 



Gray therefore does not himself designate a type locality 

 for this species. 



The first mention of a locality from which this Rail has 

 been ol)tained is given, prior to Gray's work appearing, by 

 Latham in his '^History of Birds,' vol. ix. 1824, p. 379, where, 

 under the English heading, "Rufous-headed Rail," he gives 

 the description of a feniale bird which he says inhabits 

 Sierra Leone. This description can only apply to the female 

 of Sarothrura pulchra, and we may therefore accept Sierra 

 Leone as the first designated locality of this species. 



It is next noted by Swainson in his 'Birds of West 

 Africa,' 1837, p. 243, but again no particular habitat is 

 mentioned. 



There is only one other name for this Rail, i. e. Rallus 

 cinnamonieus Lesson [Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 99], where 

 the bird from Casamauce (Portuguese Guinea) is thus 

 designated. 



I have not seen a single specimen from Sierra Leone, but 

 there can be little doubt that it is the same as the Gold Coast 

 bird which Ave know to be S. jmlchra of Gray {cf. Schlegel, 

 Mus. Pays-Bas, lirUles, 1865, p. 26 — Gold Coast). I have 

 also before me several specimens from Fantee and Bibiani, 

 as well as birds from Portuguese Guinea and the Gambia, 



