the Anglo-German Frontier of Uganda. 209 



with white. A younger bird, with the cutting-edge of the 

 upper mandible very slightly notched, differs from the adult 

 in having the feathers of the forehead black, without red 

 tips. 



IlUUSOR ERYTIIROK1IYXC IIUS (Lath.). 



Four specimens of Wood- Hoopoe from Mulema appear to 

 be typical examples of this species. Since I distinguished 

 and characterised the different red- and black-billed species 

 of Irrisor, which had all been united in the ' Catalogue 

 of Birds, 5 xvi. p. 19, under the name /. erythrorhynchus 

 (cf. ' Ibis/ 1902, pp. 433- 135), ornithologists have paid closer 

 attention to the genus, and no less than five new forms have 

 been described — one by Dr. Reiehcnow and four by Mr. Oscar 

 Neumann. 



Dr. Reiehcnow has distinguished the West- African form 

 of/, erythrorhynchus as /. e. guineensis, and Mr. Neumann 

 has separated the red-billed birds from the White Nile and 

 Shoa as /. e. niloticus. 



While naming the birds in the present collection, I have 

 again examined the whole of our series of skins of Irrisor, 

 which has been largely augmented since 1902. I can only 

 assert that it seems to me impossible to recognise either 

 of these supposed subspecies, which appear to me to have 

 no real existence. Mr. Neumann has also divided the 

 black-billed species, which I called Irrisor melanorhynchus 

 (Licht.) [=/. senegalensis (Vieill.) ; Reich. Vog. Afr. ii. 

 p. 341 (1902)], into three subspecies : — 



1. I.e. senegalensis. Hab. West Africa. 



2. /. e. abyssinicus. Hab. North Abyssinia, Bogosland, 



and Erythrea. 



3. /. e. neglectus. Hub. Shoa. 



Here, again, I cannot accept Mr. Neumann's conclusions, 

 which appear to me to be due to a misinterpretation of the real 

 facts, and I can only recognise one form rauging from West 

 Africa to Abyssinia. It is true that some birds from the 

 Anseba Valley and other localities in North Abyssinia have 

 the bill partly red ; but this character varies greatly in 



