G4 Short ]S^oti('es of OnntlwJog'ical Piihlicafions. 



at base), tail shorter than the wing and nearly square (only 

 the outer feather on either side hardly a mm. shorter than 

 the others) : differino- from that genus in that the fourth to 

 sixth primaries are the longest, the second longer than the 

 eighth ; rictal bristles well developed, reaching to within 

 5 mm. of the tip of the bill. 



Sheppardia gunkingi, sp. nov. 



Male. Upperside olive-brown, greyer on the head and 

 rustier on the rump and upper tail-coverts. A white eyebro^v 

 from the base of the bill behind the nostrils, till beyond the 

 eye. Lores and ear-coverts greyer. Under surface ochreous- 

 orange or pale orange-rufous ; the centre of the body from 

 the lower-breast to the under tail-coverts white, the latter 

 slightly tinged with yellowish. Thighs grey. Upper wing- 

 coverts slate-grey, the median shaded and edged with olive. 

 Remiges brown, the first six or seven being edged with 

 grey, and the remainder with rusty olive. Under wing- 

 coverts whitish, tipped with pale yellow, those along the outer 

 edge of the wing grey. Bill dark brown above, and tip of 

 lower mandible ; base of lower pale horn. Tail brown, the 

 feathers edged with rusty olive on the outer web. Length 

 130 ; wing 70*5 ; tail 46-75 ; bill 13 ; tarsus 19. Type 

 in Transvaal Museum. Male : Mzimbiti, near Beira. 5th 

 January, 1908. Collector : P. A. Sheppard. 



This bird, which in general coloration resembles the Callene 

 ct/ornithopsis of Sharpe (Bull. B. 0. 0. xii. 1901, and 'Ibis,' 

 1902, p. 95, plate 4), and which I at first took for C. sharpei 

 or C. cequatorialis, differs from these birds in its almost square 

 tail, and in not agreeing with Reichenow's diagnosis of the 

 generic character : "Schnabel seitlich zusammen gedrueckt," 

 w^hereas this bird has a flatter bill, resembling that of Bj^a- 

 dornis, but a little more slender. Dr. Reichenow has kindly 

 examined the skin for me, and says that in his opinion it is 

 certainly a " Muscicapide." From cyornithopsis it differs in 

 having only the centre of the abdomen white, thereby re- 

 .sembling Jackson's cequatorialis^ but differing from the latter 

 in the colour of the undei- tail-coverts, which in cequatorialis 



