484 PRIONOPS MARTENSI 
Similar to P. poliocephala, but with the feathers of the front part of the 
head bristle-like and erect, forming a low crest, which with the lores and 
chin region is pure white; back of the head dark slaty grey separated from 
the black of the back by a broad white neck ring; differing from P. plumata 
and P. poliocephala by the absence of the long occipital crest. ‘‘ Hye wattle 
yellow.’ Hedenborg. Length 9:5 inches, wing 4:6, tail 3:8, culmen 0°4, tarsus 
0:9. Wandi, ?, 3. 9. 81 (Emin). 
The Nile Helmet-Shrike ranges over the basins of the 
Blue and White Niles westwards to the Shari River in French 
Congo. 
The type was obtained by Hedenborg for Sundevall at 
Roseires on the Blue Nile and it has more recently been met 
with on the same river at Gallabat by Butler as well as at 
Jebel Ahmed Aga on the White Nile and at several localities 
in the Bahr el Ghazal, but he states that it is nowhere 
common. Koenig obtained two from a flock seen at Mechra- 
el-Zeraf on the White Nile on April 4, 1910. There is a single 
example of this species in the British Museum, collected by 
Alexander at Ratu on the Gribangui River in French 
Congo, on September 14, 1905. This is on the route from 
Lake Chad to the Ubangwi River and extends the range of 
the species many miles to the westward. 
In the British Museum the following examples have been 
examined: Abyssinia— Beni Schongul near the Senaar 
frontier (Lord Lovat); Egyptian Sudan—Nubia (Verreaux), 
Upper White Nile (Stockholm Mus.), Wandi in Makraka 
country (Kmin), Bahr el Ghazal (Blaine); French Congo— 
Ratu (Alexander). 
Prionops martensi. 
Prionops martensi, Reichen. Beiheff Arch, Naturg. 1901, p. 330 H. 
Camaroon; id., Vog. Afr. ii. p. 532 (1903); Sharpe, Handl. B. iv. 
p. 273 (1903). 
« Similar to P. concinnata, with the white crest of the same length, but 
these lengthened feathers are perfectly stiff and straight as in P. plwmata, 
not curved at the ends. Total length 8:3 to 8:5 inches, culmen 0°85, wing 4:7, 
tail 3:9 to 4:3, tarsus 0:95.” (Reichenow.) 
