260 Mr. W. P. Lowe om the [Ibis, 



Jialiaetus, ^Pelenums sj). uncertain, "^Ardea c/oViatJi, Mcht- 

 nophoyx ardesiaca, Ardeola ibis Uti.'t, Triiu/a ferruriinea 

 ferni(/inea, Totanns tot anus, Rhyacophihis <jlareoJa, *SqiintaroJa 

 squatarola, Lams fascus fuscxs, Sterna sp. not yet deter- 

 mined, HijdroclteUdon nigra, Ili/droc/udidon hi/Jnida, Nanvda 

 meleagris. 



When it is remembered that Mr. Lowe spent nnder three 

 months in the Colony, the fact that he could procnre or 

 identify without a doubt thirty-two birds, which, despite the 

 labours of Mr. Robin Kemp, Major Kelsall, and others, 

 had never previously been recorded from vSierra Leone, 

 speaks volumes for the work still to be done in West Africa, 

 and not a little for the untirino- enerov and discrimination 

 with which Mr. Lowe faced his task. 



Special mention must here be made of the new Giant 

 Swift, which Mr. Lowe discovered. A single specimen 

 was shot at Mahera up the Rokelle River (see Ma])), 

 and Mr. Lowe tells me that this Swift was very coniuion in 

 the neighbourhood of the village, and had he had more than 

 one caitridge he could have secured a fine series. The 

 birds were nesting ;it the time of his visit, 21 April. The 

 discovery of this bird in Sierra Leone is of very special 

 interest, as hitherto no specimen of any racte of the Cliaiit 

 Swift has been obtained in this part of Africa. Tiie 

 ty[)ical species inhabits Abyssinia and probably extends 

 south throuoh the great lakes. More than one race has been 

 described, and, almost at the same time as Mr. Lowe shot his 

 l)ird, ('apt. Hubert Lynes, R.N., procured yet another race 

 in Darfur in almost the same latitude as Sierra Leone. 

 I have already described M. a', lowel at length in the 

 'Bulletin' of the Brit. Orn. Club, vol. xli., October 1920, 

 p. 2. Additional s[)ecimens are badly needed in the British 

 Museum. The bird cannot be mistaken for any other Swift, 

 as the wing measures 2()4mm. 



Another bird of very great interest, which does not strictl}^ 

 come within the scojie of this paper, may, nevertheless, well be 

 mentioned here. It is a small Rail which flew on board 

 * Not obtaiued, but identified without a, doubt. 



