— 344 — 



Muséum and though it proved to be a case unique in his expé- 

 rience, agreed with the opinion I had formed, for the reasons 

 stated above. 



There is no doubt whatever that thereare at least two distinct 

 races (in addition to the typical species) of A. hypodila spread 

 over Africa; ail three of which hâve been « lumped ■*■ together 

 bv Reichenow and finally even by Shelley, who originally named 

 one of the forms. AU the races fall convenientlv into their 

 geographical régions and the only birds which présent any 

 difficulty to name are those from Southern Nigeria and the Gold 

 Coast. 



In order to simplify the distribution, I temporarily unité them 

 with A. h. subcollaris, although they may sorae day hâve to be 

 separated from the very bright-breasted race inhabiting Portuguese 

 Guinea and Sierra Leone. 



Mr LowE obtained a small séries of the collared sunbird at Iju 

 in December and January, including four juvénile spécimens with 

 pale lemon-yellow bellies and grey chin, throat and upperbreast ; 

 the metallic-green feathers of the upperparts only just commencing 

 to appear. Three other examples from Southern Nigeria are in the 

 British Muséum collection, obtained at Burutu in April by 

 Robin Kemp, at Ebo by Thompson and at Onitscha by W. A. For- 

 ées, the last named spécimen recorded by Shelley (Ibis, 1883, 

 p. 548). 



[ hâve now spread out before me 204 spécimens belonging to 

 this group devided up as follows : A. collaris, 33; A. hypodila 

 hypodila, 56; A. h. zambesiana, 68; A. li . subcollaris (typical 

 examples from Portuguese Guinea, Sierra Leone and Libéria), 17; 

 Gold Coast and Southern Nigérian examples, 30. 



A. collaris from South Africa south of the Zambesi, thanks to 

 its exceptionally well marked characters, has never been confused 

 with the forms north of the Zambesi, but how récent workers 

 (with one notable exception) hâve failed to distinguish between 

 at least two of the forms of A. hvpodila is truly incompréhen- 

 sible. 



The typical northern race is A. hypodila hypodila, described 



