4 Nicholson, Geographical Distribution of Macro nyx. 



{Claude Grant: Mus. Brit.)- Orange River Colony. 

 Kroonstadt ; plentiful all over the district (Symonds, Ibis, 

 1887, p. 333). Winburg and Kroonstadt districts {Holiib : 

 cf. Holub and Pelz., " Orn. Slidafr," p. 86). Transvaal. 

 Potchefstroom, May, Aug., Oct. {Ayrcs : Mus. Brit.). 

 Plentiful at the Goldfields as in all other parts of the 

 Transvaal (Ayres, Ibis, 1873, P- 282, 1876, p. 426). 

 Makalaka Country {Bradshaw : Mus. Brit.). Matabele 

 Land (Holub and Pelz., "Orn. Slidafr.," p. 86). Mashona 

 Land. Everywhere distributed, but nowhere plentiful 

 (Guy Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 238). Inshlangeen River 

 {Jameson), Matje Umschlope, Nov.; common (Shelley, 

 Ibis, 1882, p. 350). 



In the Ornithologische Monatsberichte for 1908 (vol. 16, 

 p. 119), Mr. Schou has described a race from Zulu Land 

 as Macronyx capensis collctti, and says that in this form, 

 the yellow colour of the under surface reaches right up 

 to the black ring which encircles the reddish yellow of 

 the lower neck ; it has, moreover, a generally clearer 

 yellow streak above the eye, and a tuft of yellow feathers 

 below the latter, the yellow edge of the wing being 

 strongly marked. 



Professor Neumann has examined the series in the 

 British Museum, and confirms the characters which 

 Mr. Schou gives for his sub-species, which is said to 

 inhabit Natal, Zulu Land, Orange River Colony, and the 

 Transvaal, while the true J\T. capensis is supposed to be 

 confined to the southern districts of Cape Colony. 



Dr. Bowdler Sharpe and I have together gone through 

 the scries oi J\Iac)-07iyx'\n the British Museum, and neither 

 of us can perceive the distinctions which Mr. Schou claims 

 for his Macronyx. I fear that I\T. colletti must be con- 

 sidered a synonym of AI. capensis. 



