538 Capt. G. E. Shelley on Birds 



XL. — A List of the Birds collected by the late Mr. W. A. 

 Forbes in the Niger Region. By Captain G. E. Shelley, 

 E.Z.S. 



(Plate XIV.) 



Our late fellow- worker Mr. W. A. Forbes, during his expe- 

 dition to the unhealthy region of the Niger, where he suo- 

 cumbed to the deadly effects of the climate, made a valuable 

 collection of birds, comprising examples of over one hundred 

 species. Many of them are extremely rare, and several of 

 them hitherto only known from North-east Africa, as, for 

 instance, Muscicapa aquatica, Heugl., Hyphantornis atrogu- 

 laris, Hengl., Lngonosticta melanogastra, Heugl., and L. ni- 

 gricollis, Heugl. This would indicate apparently that there 

 is no obstacle to the transit of birds between the upper 

 waters of the White Nile and those of the Niger. 



The following list contains an enumeration of the speci- 

 mens collected by Mr. Forbes, and their localities, together 

 with the collector's notes where there are any on the 

 labels. 



1. TURDUS PELIOS. 



Turdus -pelios, Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. i. 1850, p. 273; Hartl. 

 Oru. W.Afr. p. 75 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. v. p. 230. 



a. (J, Shonga, 25th December: iris brown; bill orange- 

 yellow; legs dirty greenish yellow, b. $ , Shouga : iris and 

 bill brown ; legs brownish yellow. 



2. COSSYPHA ALBICAPILLA. 



Turdus alhicapiUus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. xx. 181*J, p. 254. 

 Cossypha albicapillus, Hartl. Orn. W.Afr. p. 77. 

 a. ^ , Shonga: iris crimson ; bill and legs black. 



3. Cossypha verticalis. 



Petrocincla albocapilla, Swains, (nee Vieill.), B. W. Afr. 

 i. 1837, p. 281, pi. 32. 



Cossypha verticalis, Hartl. Beitr. zurOrn. W.Afr. in Abh. 

 Geb. Nat. Hamburg, ii. pt. 2, 1852, p. 23; id. J. f. O. 

 1854, p. 22 ; id. Orn. W.xVfr. p. 77. 



a. (^ , Shonga : iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs pinkisli 



