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P. LowE at Christmas 1920 that he vvas detained at Lagos, whilst 

 awaiting the arrivai of H. M. S. Dwarf, the Gunboat in which he 

 had been invited to act as naturalist. Mr Lowe would, I knew, 

 make excellent use of histime, but the fine collection which he got 

 together exceeded ail expectations, and has, when added to other 

 material already in the British Muséum, enabled me to fill up a 

 considérable gap in our knowledge of this part of West Africa. 



Mr Lowe's collection, numbering 395 skins, was made at the Iju 

 water-works near Lagos and détails of the country in that neigh- 

 bourhood are given by Mr Lowe in his introduction. The next 

 most important collection from Southern Negeria was made bv 

 Mr Robin Kemp, a well-known African collector who had already 

 done so much to further our knowledge of the Birds of Sierra 

 Leone. Mr Kemp made his collection as long ago as 1905, and 

 although a report on his birds was drawn up by himself, the list 

 was apparentlv destrov-ed before publication. I hâve been able to 

 rescue, through the kindness of Mr Tom Iredale, onlv the Intro- 

 duction which Kemp then wrote,. and as in it he gives a brief 

 description of the three districts in which he worked, I hâve decided 

 to publish that part of it which deals with the topography of the 

 countrv. I regret that I hâve been unable to get into touch with 

 Mr Kemp, so that I must take full responsibility for publishing his 

 notes without his permission, which I trust he will forgive me for 

 doing. 



His birds, 205 in number, were fortunatelv presented to the 

 British Muséum and I am now working them ont along with 

 Mr Lowe's collection. Mr Kemp's collection is a most valuable one 

 and it is to be regretted that it was not reported on years ago; the 

 spécimens were collected at Burutu, Abutschi and Agoulerie. 



Still another small collection from Southern Nigeria was made 

 by Mr P. A. Talbot at Oban, Niagi, Ndebbiji, Nsam, Obutong, 

 Nfamosing and Ubarakpa. Although onlv thirtv birds are repre- 

 sented, the collection contains several species which were not 

 found in the larger collections. None of the above mentioned 

 collections hâve until now been reported on. 



Now, to deal with the little that has been published on Southern 



