Manchester Memoirs, Vol. liii. (1909), No. 24 



XXIV. Geographical Distribution of Birds (Genus 



Macrojiyx, Swainson.) 



By Francis Nicholson, F.Z.S., 



Member of the British Ornithologists' Union, Corresponding Member of the 

 American Ornithologists^ Union, &^c., ar'c. 



Received and read November ijth, igo8. 



A few years ago I had determined to write a mono- 

 graph of the MOTACILLIDAE (Wagtails and Pipits), and 

 for the purpose I made a large collection of these birds. 

 The publication of the tenth volume of the " Catalogue of 

 Birds in the British Museum " seemed to take away the 

 necessity for my intended " Monograph," so I abandoned 

 the project, and dispersed my collection. In this I may, or 

 may not, have been wise, but the completeness of 

 Dr. Bowdler Sharpe's work in the " Catalogue " seemed 

 to leave me little to say. 



I have, however, a mass of notes on Pipits and Wag- 

 tails in my possession, the result of several years' work, 

 and it has occurred to me that it might be interesting to 

 publish these in the form of papers on geographical 

 distribution, a subject that has always interested me. 

 New collections are continually arriving, and new facts 

 becoming known, rendering the most elaborate works, 

 like those of Reichenow and Shelley, incomplete, as will 

 be seen in this small essay, which is written to bring 

 up to date the geographical memoranda on the genus 

 Macronyx detailed by these celebrated ornithologists. 



Macronyx is a purely Ethiopian genus, being confined 

 to the African continent, where the species are popularly 



August i2th, igog. 



