ORIOLUS BRACHYRHYNCIIUS 17 



Oriolus brachyrhynchus. 



Oriolus brachyrhynchus,* Swains., B. W. Afr. ii. p. 35 (1837) Sierra 

 Leone; Sharpe, Ibis, 1870, p. 226, pi. 8 ; Slielley and Buckley, Ibis, 

 1872, p. 288, Ahouri ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 218 (1877); 

 Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 573 (1896). 



Oriolus larvatus brachyrynchus, Eeichen. Yog. Afr. ii. p. 060 (1903). 



Oriolus baruffi, Bp. Consp. i. p. 31:7 (1850) Ashantee. 



"Oriolus intermedins Temm." Hartl. Orn. W. Afr. p. 81 (1857) Ashantee. 



Oriolus laetior, Sharpe, Bull. B. 0. C. vii. p. 17 (1897) Gaboon ; id. Iljis, 

 1901, p. 91 E/iilcn. 



Oriolus larvatus laetior, Eeichen. Vog. Afr. ii. p. 661 (1903). 



Adult. Very similar in colouring to 0. larvatus, but smaller, and with 

 a little more bluish grey on the outer greater wing-covorts and secondaries. 

 Wing 4-3 to 4-7 inches. 



Immature. Differs from that of 0. larvatus in having no black on the 

 head and no black streaks on the throat or body; head and throat yellowish 

 green, paler and yellower on the lores, cheeks, chin and throat, the feathers 

 of the latter part having yellow edges ; terminal margins to the median 

 and greater- coverts yellowish white; bill reddish brown, only slightly darker 

 than in the adult. 



Jn adults, from both the Gold Coast and Gaboon, the colour of the back 

 of the neck varies from greenish-shaded yellow (0. brachyrynchus, Swains.) 

 to bright yellovy (0. Icetior, Sharpe), the latter probably being the older 

 birds. 



The Short-billed Black-headed Oriole ranges over Western 

 Africa from Sierra Leone into Gaboon, and eastward to about 

 31 E. long. 



The species has been divided, in my opinion, wrongl^y, into 

 two, a northern and southern subspecies. The former and 

 typical race, with a range from Sierra Leone into Togoland, 

 and the Southern race 0. IceUov, Sharpe, extending over 

 Camaroons, Gaboon, and eastward to the country between 

 the Albert Nyanza and the Albert Edward Nyanza. 



* In " brachyrynchus " Swains., I have above inserted an additional h, for I look 

 upon the absence of that letter between the r and the n as a printer's error only, 

 Swainson not leaving it out in Vidua crytlirorhyiichvs, B. Afr. i. p. 176. 



CJanuary, 1906. 2 



