— 3'o — 



iqio, pp. 525-530. Noticing that he had listed spécimens of 

 /'. ostrïnus ostrinus from Agouleri and spécimens of P. o. roth- 

 schildi from Abutshi, thèse places being but 20 miles from one- 

 another, I sent to Tring for the entire material. Examination of 

 the Trmg séries proved Neumann to bave been qiiite justified 

 in separating the two races. Moreover I found in the British 

 Musemn a fuUv adiilt maie exemple from Agouleri obtained in 

 August bv RoHiN Kemp. This spécimen I hâve compared with 

 the type of P. 0. rothschildi and it certainly approaches that race 

 verv closelv. It bears the British Muséum Reg., n° 1906, 2.1. 138, 

 and bas a wing of 64 mm. [P. 0. ostrinus bave wings in maies 

 of 67-72 mm.). We bave therefore both tvpical /"*. 0. ostrinus and 

 a bird which much more nearlv resembles P. 0. rothschildi occwxmsi, 

 together at Agoulerie, and this fact would doubtless influence 

 some ornithologists to upset Neum.\nn's subspecies. I cannot see 

 that this course is logicallv necessarv. As far as we know P. 0. 

 rothschildi does not occur in Northern Nigeria and P. o. ostrinus 

 does not occur in the true Niger Delta. The range of the two birds 

 must meet somewbere and whv not at Agoulerie? The onlv 

 question is whether we are to name the two birds obtained at 

 Agoulerie P. ostrinus ostrinus. It certainlv seems illogical to 

 give them two difterent names at iirst sighl I 



Another point is whether /^. 0. rothschildi extends iuto the 

 Gold Coast ! The maie in the British Muséum collection, with a 

 short wing and small bill, but with the dark brown (') (not black 

 back, said to bave been obtained bv A. Swanzy at Fantee, certainly 

 approaches /''. 0. rotlischildi much more closelv than it does 

 P. 0. ostrinus, of which species I bave seen no other maie birds 

 from the Gold Coast. Can the localitv on the label be relied upon ? 

 The bird was preserted with a number of other Gold Coast 

 spécimens bv Mr Swanzy to the British Muséum. 



From Southern Nigeria I hâve examined the following material 

 of P. 0. rothschildi : 



British Muséum examples : 3 apparent females, April, Burutii 



(■) See footnote on next page. 



