— U3 — 



g(j/e/isis, treating the latter as a species ; while guiiieeiisis he made 

 a sub-species of P. c. ci \thioi hyiichiis. Mr Ci.audk Gkant in his 

 review of the genus {/bis, 1915, p. 284) uniteà sciicgd/cnsis -Anô. 

 gutneensis on the grounds that «the séries in the National collection 

 show that scnegalciisis is not a black-billed race but ultimately 

 assumes a red bill «. 



I do not agrée that the séries in question proves the tvvo races 

 to be svnonvmous There are \'/ ^'>Qc\mlins, oï senegaleiisis hom 

 the Gambia and l'ortuguese Guinea, onlv one of which bas the 

 greater part of the bill red. The majority certainlv bave black bills 

 or with onlv a little red appearing. In i i spécimens from the Gold 

 Coast, Dahomev, Southern Nigeria, and Northern Nigeria to Lake 

 Chad, everv single bird bas a red bill. The fullv adult bird now 

 obtained at Iju bv Mr. Lowk bas a bright red bill, onlv beconiing 

 dusky at the extrême tip. Several of the skins in this séries bave 

 been wdxweà giniicciisis by Mr. O. Neumann. 



My séries shows other distinctive points between the two forms, 

 quite apart Irom the colour ot the bill, and this is shown in Dr. 

 Keichenow's description of the two birds in his Vôgel Afrikas. 

 Guinceiisis is a much brighter coloured bird than seiicga/ensis, the 

 under parts are of a greener metallic colour, while in sciicgdleiists 

 they are of a duUer bluish-purple. The différences are equally 

 marked on the upper-side. 



It is curions that Reichenow should bave given Port. Guinea to 

 the Niger as the range oï h'x'f, giu'iicfiisis; he may bave had a much 

 larger séries to deal with. .Mr.C. Gr.\nt gives « Portuguese Guinea» 

 as the type locality but l cannot see that Reichenow designated a 

 type in literature. It would appear tiiat birds from the Niger 

 are much more typical and the range of the two forms and tbeir 

 distinguishing characters would be as toUows : 



1. — Phoeniculus erythrorhynchus guineensis. 



Cf. SHpra. 



Raujc. — Gold Coast, Dahomey, S. Nigeria, N. Nigeria to 

 Lake Chad. 



