238 CORVINELLA CORVINA 
are not constant characters for any local forms, so, like 
Dr. Reichenow, I do not admit any subspecies. 
In its most northern known range it has been procured by 
Marche and De Campiégne, near Cape Verde. Fea found it 
inhabiting the Bissagos Islands. On the Gold Coast I shot 
three specimens at Quamin-fio, in the scattered clumps of 
bushes on the plain some ten miles from Accra, and remarked 
how Shrike-like they were in their habits. Mr. Boyd 
Alexander met with the species at Gambaga and Kwabia, 
and writes (Ibis, 1902, p. 309): “ This bird frequents bush- 
country, and may be seen singly or in small parties travelling 
from one thick-leaved tree to another, uttering the whole time 
a chorus of loud chirps. Lizards form its principal food. 
The flight is even and very straight. Its pose, when perched, 
is like that of a Shrike.” He then describes the plumages of 
the immature and adults. He subsequently procured other 
examples between the Benue river and Lake Chad in Northern 
Nigeria. Mr. Neumann (J. f. O., 1890, p. 263) points out what 
he suggests as a subspecific character for distinguishing his 
C. affinis togoensis, founded on five specimens collected at 
Kratschi (Zech) and Bismarckburg (Biittner), in Camaroon, 
but these distinctions are not upheld by Reichenow. 
The species has been recorded from Camma in Dahomey 
(F. Newton), and is generally distributed over the White 
Nile district down to Khartoum, where it has been procured 
by Antinori. The eastern bird was first described by Filippi 
as C. corvina nubieé in 1863, while Heuglin’s name C. affnis, 
published in 1855, remained without a description until the 
year 1871, and has therefore no right to be used. The type 
of C. affinis was procured by Heuglin in the Djur country, 
where he found these Shrikes in small parties frequenting the 
woodlands which extend to the Kosango River. They are, 
according to his observations, resident in the Upper White 
