80 Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant on some recent [Ibis, 



Zool. Soc. xix. p. 379 (1910)]. He even goes so far as to 

 say that " no birds in any way resembling T. barakce have 

 been procured in Angola, Cameroon, or anywhere on the 

 west coast. ^^ I am quite at a loss to understand what he 

 can mean by making such an incorrect statement. 1 write 

 with the whole series of Turdinus spread out geographically 

 before me, and the identity of Gaboon and Cameroon birds 

 [T. rufipennis Sharpe) with those from the Upper Congo 

 [T. albipectus Keichenow) and from Toro district {T. barakce 

 Jackson) is obvious. 



Dr. van Someren had access to the series in the British 

 Museum, which makes his positive statement more difficult 

 to understand. As regards his Turdinus albipectus minutus 

 from the Mabira Forest, it appears to be merely a rather 

 small female example of T. rufipennis in which the sex has 

 been wrongly determined, and it can be exactly matched 

 by a female from Cameroon with a wing measuring 

 66 mm. (i. e. 1 mm. more). It is incredible that the 

 Mabira Forest should contain tliree so closely allied sub- 

 species, viz. T. barakae, T. minutus, and T. albipectus as 

 Dr. van Someren asserts, and I am absolutely convinced 

 that all these are merely synonyms of T. 7'ufipen7iis. 



In a series of twenty-three specimens from Cameroon the 

 wing-measurements are as follows: — 10 cJ, 70*5-76 mm., 

 average about 73-5 mm. ; 7 ? imm., 66-74 mm., average 

 about 70 mm.; 4 (J imm., 64-5-67 mm.; 2 ? imm., 67 & 

 68 mm. 



Turdinus ugandcB van Someren, Bull. B. O. C. xxxv. p. 125 

 (1915) [Uganda Forest], is at most a subspecies of T. ful- 

 vescetis (Cassin). The presence of grey shaft-streaks or 

 stripes on the feathers of the throat is a somewhat un- 

 certain character ; though found on most Cameroon birds, it 

 is indistinct or absent on individuals from northern Angola 

 and the Gold Coast. 



Cossypha verticalis melanonota (Cab.). 

 It seems doubtful if Cossypha melanonota (Cab.) is really 

 separable from C. verticalis Hartl.^ many of the former col- 



