' Ornithuloyie Nordost-Afrika's.' 427 



ward as the Somali Coast in winter ; but with regard to Dr. von 

 Heuglin's note to the effect that it is doubtful whether 

 C. smithi, Bp. (C europceus, A. Smith), from South Africa is 

 really distinct from the true C. europteus, I can state that no 

 species could well be more distinct. Besides sundry differences 

 in colour, the South-African bird wants altogether the white 

 spots on the wings and tail so conspicuous in the male of 

 the other. 



The unusual quantity of manuscript names, freely enough in- 

 terspersed throughout the book, but particularly in the Capri- 

 mulgidce, may well be complained of. Thus in the account of this 

 family alone no fewer than seven such names, which we are 

 careful not to repeat here, are introduced. Having referred to 

 them elsewhere, the author should have been content to let them 

 drop into the obscurity they merit. Nobody is really interested 

 in them ; they can never possibly be adopted, and only tend to 

 make worse the already sufficiently confused mass of Caprimul- 

 gine nomenclature ; besides, in the present instance, they reflect 

 no credit on their proposer, and might have been most properly 

 ignored. 



We believe that the author is right in merging Cypselus gut- 

 turalis in C. melba, in contradiction of the opinion of Mr. Tris- 

 tram (P. Z. S. 1867, p. 886). On comparing European examples 

 with South-African, I find scarcely any difference. With the 

 second species of Cypselus mentioned, Dr. von Heuglin has 

 been guilty of an injustice in giving preference to his own name, 

 C. rueppelli, printed in 1856, over the name C. aquatorialis, 

 W. von Miill., published in 1851. He proposes to separate as 

 a variety the eastern C. caffer under the name of C. coffer 

 orientalis, on account of its smaller size and the less extent of 

 white on the throat. From what I have seen -of the variation of 

 this latter character in the common C. apus I have been led to 

 examine the question so far as I could ; and I can find no definite 

 rule, specimens fi-om South Africa varying considerably in the 

 extent of white. 



On the authority of a passage in Captain Grant's 'Walk 

 across Africa,' of a small black Swallow having been observed 

 along with the beautiful white-headed species Psalidoprocne 



