— 150 — 



bird, on the otlier liand, is a light-backed race known as E. a. 

 aethiopiciis. 



E. a. afer aiul E. a. siiahelicus can be distinguished bv the 

 coloiir of the upper tail-coverts which in E. <t. afer hâve the cen- 

 tral coverts brown, the onter ones blue; while in E. a. stiahelicus 

 thevare entiiely blue. E.a.rufohnccalis, on the other hand, bas the 

 tail-coverts as in /:'. a. afer but it is a lari^er bird {d 181-182 nnn. 

 Q 178 mm.) and the under-parts never show the dark shaft-streaks 

 to the feathers which is nsually (but not always) présent in E. n. 

 afer. It is also said that tlu' under surface and cheeks are nuich 

 less noticeably washed with lilac. ^ Jhis, 19 19, p. ('74)- 



For the varions races of this bird and their distinguishing cha- 

 racters see Sci.atp:r and Praed, Ibis, 19 19, p. 674. I accept the 

 races and for the niost part the distribution of the forms they men- 

 tion, but am doubtful as to the exact range of E. a. rufobuccalis. 

 I would also aniplify that of E. a. suahelicus which I find to extend 

 south of the Zauibesi river and to be as foUows : Kenya Colony, 

 Tanganyika Territory, Eastern Belgian Congo (from Tingasi in the 

 north east to Kambore m the extrême south east), Nyasaland, 

 Northern and Southern Rhodesia, Portuguese East Africa, Zam- 

 besi and the Transvaal. 



The bird troni Ouatti, Abyssinia, which Sci.atkk and Praed drew 



attention to in their paper (1. c.) I hâve nanied /:'. a. praedi ufTon 



examination of further material froin the Abvssinian highlands, as 



I find it is a very dark bird with almost black upper tail-coverts 



cf. Bull. Brit. Ôrn. Club, XLI, 1921, p. 70). 



I recognise two forms in West Africa as follows : 



I. — EURVSTOMUS AFER AFER. 



Cf. supra. 



Distiibuiîon. — .Sénégal, Cape Verde Islands, Gambia, Portu- 

 guese Guinea, Sierra Leone, Libéria, N. and S. Nigeria, Cameroon, 

 Gaboon, and the Belgian Congo eastwards, where it meets E. a. 

 siia/ie/iciis and E. a. riifohiiccalis. 



