FROM THE SULYMAH RIVER. 25 



different stages of age are still unsettled. Dr. Hartlaub, in 

 his „Ornithologie Westafrica's", says that in M. malimhi- 

 cus (the Sycohius cristatus of his) the female resembles the 

 male in the distribution of the red , but that the crest in 

 the female is wanting and the bill flesh-color instead of 

 black. This statement is adhered to by Prof. Bocage, quo- 

 ting it without additional remarks in his „Ornithologie 

 d'Angola." 



Dr. Sharpe, however, in his Catalogue of Birds, Vol. 

 XIII, p. 480, says that the female differs from the male 

 in having the red color of the (uncrested) crown contin- 

 ued onto the hind neck , and that the throat is black , 

 generally intermixed with some red feathers, while this 

 part is bright crimson in the male. 



On ground of the material before me (three skins from 

 the Sulymah River , one from Liberia , ' eleven stuffed spe- 

 cimens from the Gold Coast and one from Lower Guinea) 

 I cannot agree with Dr. Sharpe's opinion as developed 

 above , and rather yield to that of Dr. Hartlaub's , brought 

 forward in his Ornithologie Westafrica's. All our specimens 

 from the Gold Coast are collected by the late Dutch Go- 

 vernor Nagtglas, and those which I consider to be adult 

 are all well-sexed , while two of the other four are mar- 

 ked »avis jun." As the annotations made by Nagtglas have 

 always proved to be very trustworthy, there is no reason 

 to doubt their accuracy in this case. The fact now is that 

 all the birds sexed as males, four in number (with inclu- 

 sion of the specimen from Lower Guinea), have the throat, 

 sides of face and the crested crown with the exception of the 

 black frontal band and the black hind neck , red ; and 

 four specimens , all females , are precisely colored like the 

 males , differing from the latter only by their want of a 

 crest. Immature birds, and as such has the bird to be con- 

 sidered , described by Dr. Sharpe as the adult female , have 

 the whole head , including the front , hind neck and sides 

 of neck , red ; throat and fore-neck are entirely black. In 

 a more advanced stage the black throat becomes intermixed 



JVotes from the !Lieydeii IMuseiiiu, Vol. XIV. 



