ORIOLUS NIGRIPENNIS 19 



Variety O. hctiur resembles 0. hracliyrliynchus in all 

 its ineasureuients, and is a distictly smaller bird than 

 0. larvafns, whicli it resembles in the brighter and yellower 

 shade of the upper parts between the crown and the tail. 

 In the British Museum there are nine of the duller typical 

 forms of 0. hrachijrliijncltus from the Gold Coast, and three 

 of 0. Icpfior, while from Camaroons and Gaboon there are 

 eight of 0. hpfior and three of the duller forms, which include 

 one from Efulen, in Camaroons, and two from Gaboon. I 

 therefore cannot look upon these forms as local subspecies ; 

 but they come under my definition as varieties, the extreme 

 forms only being easily distinguishable. 



Oriolus nigripennis. 



Oriolus nigripennis, Verr. .J. f. O. 185.5, p. 105 Gaboon ; Sharpe, Ibis, 

 1870, p. 228, pi. 7, fig. i. Shelley and Buckley, Ibis, 1872, p. 288 

 Abouri ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii. p. 220 (1877); Shelley, B. Air. I. 

 No. 57i (1896) ; Eeichen. Yog. Air. ii. p. 661 (1903) ; Kemp, Ibis, 

 1905, p. 247 Bo. 



Adult. Like O. larvatus and 0. brachijrhijnchits in colouring, with the 

 exception of the wings and tail ; wings black and yellow with no grey ; 

 primary-coverts black with no broad white ends ; primaries with less 

 strongly marked white edges ; tail uniform black with yellow ends to the 

 feathers, narrow on the centre ones and broadening out toward the outer 

 feathers, which have the end two-fifth bright yellow. Iris red; bill pale 

 brownish red ; feet dusky grey. Total length 8-2 inches, culmen 0'95, 

 wing 4-8, tail 3-2, tarsus 09. Type, W. Afr. (Verr.). 



Immature. More like those of larvatus than of 0. brachyrliyiiclius. 

 Differs from the adult in having some yellow on the edges of the black 

 feathers of the forehead and crown ; feathers of throat black with broad 

 yellow edges ; centre tail-feathers with an olive yellow wash on the basal 

 half. Bill black ; wing 4-4. Gold Coast (Kirby). 



The Black-winged Black-headed Oriole ranges from Sierra 

 Leone into Loango, and eastward to the Niam-Niam country. 



