Ornithology of I lie "Egyptian Suudun. 369 



at a village near the Atbara on April 26th, 1903. It was 

 a slight structure of sticks, unlined, and was placed on the 

 horizontal bough of au acacia. The egg was dirty white, 

 with the inside of the shell greenish. 



214. Melierax oabar (Daud.). 



a. ? jr. Khartoum, Feb. 9, 1902. 



b. £ (var. niger). Khartoum, Oct. 21, 190:2. 



c. $ ad. Roseires, Blue Nile, Dec. 1902. 



The Red-faced Chanting- Hawk is fairly abundant in 

 winter and spring, but seems to disappear from the country 

 in the hot months of June, July, and August. It 

 arrives at Khartoum in considerable numbers at the end 

 of September, and at first keeps together in threes and 

 fours, but after a few weeks the numbers diminish and 

 the majority seem to pass on. Immature birds far out- 

 number the adults. 1 cannot consider Melierax niger, 

 though it has stood as a species for so long, anything more 

 than a melanistic form of this bird. Apart from colour, it is 

 absolutely the same in measurements, plumage, and structure 

 of the feet. A few of these black birds always arrive among 

 the flights of the others, and are commonly members of the 

 little parties which follow each other from tree to tree. In 

 no case can I find that M. niger occurs where M. gahar docs 

 not. 



Looking through the series of skins in the British 

 Museum, I was struck with the irregularity of the colouring 

 of the feet, which may be entirely black or only mottled 

 with it. This, again, looks like melanism. Among the series 

 was a black skin from Somaliland, obtained by my friend 

 Captain H. N. Dunn, together with a typical M. gabar, and 

 marked " melanistic variety." 



That these black birds are specifically distinct I cannot 

 believe. I think that they form an exactly similar case to 

 that of the well-known Ci Sabine's Snipe." 



215. AsTUR UNDULIVENTER (Riipp.) ? 



On March 19th I shot a beautiful little bright grey 

 Sparrow-Hawk with orange eyes on the Bahr-el-Ghazal, 



