116 Mr. D. A. Bannerman 07i rare Birds [Ibis, 



character, these Uganda specimens can only be referred to 

 S. p. centralis. 



In S. p. zenkeri the female is said by Neumann in the 

 original description to have the head and neck darker than 

 in S. p. pu/chra or S. p. centralis. Moreover, S. p. zenkeri 

 is said by Neumann to be easily distinguished from both by 

 having the upper side bhick, with but few brown bars, the 

 intermediate black bars being from six to eight times broader 

 than the brown bars. The black bars of the underside are 

 also much broader tlian the brown ones; the tail is said to 

 be black, with a few defined chestnut bars; the measurements 

 are less than those of S. p. pulchra and S. p. centralis. . 



Now, the female type of S. p. zenkeri came from Bipinde, 

 and the habitat is said to be " South Cameroon " ; so when 

 we recently received specimens of S. pulchra from Mr. Bates^ 

 collected at Bitye, R. Ja, S. Cameroon, I naturally expected 

 these birds to be typical S. pulchra zenkeri. They do not, 

 how^ever, agree with the description of the type (which is in 

 Berlin) any more than Sir Frederick Jackson's birds from 

 Uganda agree with Neumann's descri[)ti()n of S. p. centralis. 

 In fact, the female birds which Mr. Bates obtained in 

 southern Cameroon (Nos. 5443 and 5453) agree with female 

 specimens fi'om northern Angola, Tingasi, and Ndoruma, 

 and only differ from Uganda birds in having the chestnut 

 colour of the head, neck, and breast brighter. 



We cannot possibly accept Neumann's name zenkeri for 

 these bii'ds, as the intermediate black bars on the back are 

 only al)()ut three times as broad as the ])ale burs {nut six 

 times broader as they are said to be in zenkeri)-^ the black 

 and chestnut bars of the tail are al)out equal in breadth, and 

 the tail cannot, therefore, by any stretch of imagination be 

 called "black with a few defined chestnut bars"; moreover, 

 the head and neck is, if anything, brighter chestnut than in 

 S. p. centralis, not darker, as I gather Neumann infers his 

 S.p. zenkeri to be, although in the original description this 

 is very badly expressed. 



We have the choice, therefore, of uniting birds from Lower 



