570 Mr. S. A. Buturlin on 



E-eichenbw says, in the introductory pages of the ' Vogel 

 Afrikas ' (i. p. xc), "the breeding-time of African birds 

 coincides in general with the rainy season/'' This is no 

 doubt true of most parts of the Ethiopian Region, where 

 the dry season is more pronounced than in the locality of 

 which I treat. In most parts, as we read in books of 

 travel, the vegetation becomes largely dried up, so that 

 much of the food-supply of the birds is cut off. At such 

 a time breeding would naturally cease. In the shorter and 

 partial dry seasons of Southern Kamerun, however, the 

 forest keeps the ground always moist, and fruits and insects 

 are always to be found. 



It is a fact correlated to that of the more or less con- 

 tinuous breeding of the birds here that they seldom lay more 

 than two or three eggs at a time, and that some seem to 

 lay only one at a time. When only two young are hatched 

 in each brood, with all the enemies they have and the risks 

 they run, more broods have to be produced in a year than 

 when four or five are hatched. 



There is an interesting correspondence in the life of the 

 plant-world in this country with the irregularity we find in 

 the breeding and moulting times of birds. Many trees and 

 plants flower and fruit more or less at all seasons ; many 

 trees shed their leaves continually ; and those species 

 wliich seem to have special fruiting and leafing times do not 

 shew regularity in regard to those times in all individuals. 



XXVIII. — Additional Notes on the True Pheasants 

 (Phasianus). By Sergius A. Buturlin, F.M.B.O.U. 



During the four years since the publication of my paper on 

 the True Pheasants {' Ibis,' 1904, pp. 377-414) several new 

 forms have been described and some important additional 

 material has been examined; moreover, an interesting paper 

 on the subject, by Messrs. S. Alpheraky and V. Bianchi *, has 



* " Preliminary Notes on Forms of the Genus Fhasianus s. str.," in Ann. 

 Mus, Zool. Acad. Imp. St. Pgtersb. t. xii. 1907 (actually published in 1908), 

 pp. 42.5-462. 



