— 93 — 



Praed in restricting Muli.er's name to the Sénégal bird and 

 accepting Swainson's name for the Gambian bird as first assigned 

 bv Reichenow. 



The range ot M. g. poicephahis, judged by the spécimens in the 

 British Muséum, seems to extend from Gambia to the French 

 Congo and eastwards to the Nile Vallev. 



For a fuU review of the races of M. goertae see Ibis, 1919, 

 pp. 632-633. 



I recognise the foUowing two forms from West Africa : 



I. — Mesopicus goertae goertae. 



Picus goertae S. Mi'i.i.., Linn., Syst. Nat., Suppl., 1776, p. 91 : 

 Sénégal. 



Range. — Sénégal. 



Distingiiis/iing chai acte/ s. — « Underside distincth^ vellovvish; 

 throat pale grev ; niiddle of abdomen orange. » (Scl. and Pr.) 



2. — Mesopicus goertae poicephalls. 



Dendrohates poïcep/ia/iis Swains, Birds W. Afr., II, 1837, p. 154 : 

 Western Africa = Gambia. 



Range. — Gambia, Port Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, N. 

 and S. Nigeria to Lake Chad, French Congo, N. Belgian Congo, 

 Cameroon east to Upper Sudan (except Blue Nile). 



Distingiiishing characters. — Underside greyer not so yellow, 

 throat somewhat darker grev, otherwise siniilar to M. g. goertae; 

 middle of abdomen orange-red. (Scl. and Pr.) 



Observation. — Mr. C. Grant's remarks on this sub-species 

 (which he considers svnonymous with M. g. goertae) should be 

 consulted {Ibis, 1915, p. 468; also Messrs. Scl.\ter and Pk.\ed's 

 conclusions {/bis, 19 19, p. 632-33.) 



