I9I7-] 



Birds from British East Africa. 



415 



so has the adult male of P. senegalensis. I cannot find any 

 evidence that the smaller and commoner bird ever assumes 

 a black foreneck. If it does, it is probably indistinguishable 

 from P. senegalensis ; but it is at least noteworthy that out 

 of seven. P. senegalensis from West Africa, two have a black 

 neck, out of four P. petersi from the east coast, two have 

 a black neck, and out of fourteen of this bird, none has a 

 black neck. Further, I must have seen a dozen pairs or 

 more on the Thika River, and though I was not paying- any 

 great attention to them, I am pretty sure I should have 

 noticed a black-necked one. However, whether distinct from 

 ■ P. senegalensis or not, it is certainly distinct from P. petersi. 

 The male described in Stark and Sclater^s ' Fauna of 

 South Africa ' is true P. petersi, the female probably the 

 other bird. The male figured in Sharpe and Layard^s ' Bii'ds 

 of South Africa ' is also P. petersi, being probably specimen 

 No. 2 in the appended list. Reichenow, who unites P. petersi 

 with P. senegalensis^ is probably only thinking of the smaller 

 bird. 



The next point is that Podica jacobi Reichw.is the female 

 and non-breeding male of P. camerunensis Sjost., as the series 

 of birds collected by Mr. G. L. Bates in the Cameroons 

 shows clearly. I append a list of the birds at present in 

 the Natural History Museum. 



1. PODICA SENEGALENSIS. 



Heliornis senegalensis Vieill. N. Diet. H. N. xiv. 1817, 

 p. 279. 



Hab. Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, South 

 Nigeria. 



