808 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxx. 



There seems to be little doubt that the birds from Abyssinia and 

 other parts of northea.stern Africa, which represent TcMfrea ferreti 

 Guerin," are identical with those from East Africa which Doctor 

 Reichenow has called T. suahelica/^ and the proper name for both is 

 therefore Tcliitrea ftrretl Guerin, Mr. Oscar Neumann in a recent 

 connection'" has revived this name for the Abj'ssinian bird, which he 

 found to differ from the west African T. viridis^ and of w^hich he 

 made it a subspecies, but he appears to be unacquainted with Reiche- 

 now's T. Hualtelica., or at least not to have suspected its relationsliip to 

 T. ferreti. 



The present study has but confirmed the opinion previously ex- 

 pressed'' that Tchitrea ferreti {^. e., Tcliitrea auaheUvd) ii^ ii^eri^ctXy 

 distinct species, although in some respects intermediate between T. 

 persplciUatd and T. vtridU, or, as it might possibly be more accurately 

 stated, combining their characters. In its chestnut-baciied plumage, 

 of all stages except the ver}'^ young, and even before the long central 

 tail-feathers appear, it differs from Tchltvea peri<j)!c!Uata in its more 

 blackish wing-quills; black primarj" coverts and outermost secondary 

 coverts; broad white instead of rufous edgings to the exterior webs 

 of most of the primaries, secondaries, primary coverts, and outer 

 secondary coverts; more bluish head and upper throat; less purely 

 white lining of wings, and less whitish abdomen. In its white plum- 

 age, to which there seems to be no corresponding stage in T. j)e7'sjji- 

 cillata. it of course differs additionally by reason of its white back and 

 tail. From Tcliitrea mridis of western Africa it may readily be dis- 

 tinguished in rufous-backed plumage, b}' the white or at most verj^ 

 pale rufous lower tail-coverts; much less uniform lower surface, the 

 abdomen being much paler — on the anal region sometimes even 

 whitish — and the metallic l)luish of the throat less extended posteriorly; 

 grayish or rufescent white; instead of plain shite-colored lining of Avings, 

 including axillars; and more extensive white margins of the wing- 

 quills and coverts. In the white-backed plumage, however, these 

 two species are, like some of the oriental forms of this genus, much 

 more difficult to distinguish, but T. ferreti may be identiffed by its 

 paler abdomen, less posterior extension of tlie metallic blue of the 

 throat, white lower tail-eoverts, more whitish lining of wing, and 

 rather broader and more extensive white margins of the wing-quills 

 and coverts, although it must be said that all of these characters, 

 excepting the first two, are to some extent uncertain. 



So far as Tchitrea perspicillata is concerned with T. mridis, there is 

 comparatively little real need for comparison, as it differs much more 



«Rev. Zool., 1843, p. 162. 



^ Terpslphatie .perspicUlata suahelica Reichenow, Werth. Mittl. Hoclil. deutsch. 

 Ost-Afr., 1898, p. 275. 



<-Journ. f. Oriiith., 1905, pp. 211-213. 



t/Oberholser, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXVIII, 1<)05, p. 915. 



