118 Bulletin of the British 



With regard to the distribution of the South- American 

 species of Picumnus, Mr. Hargitt remarked that there were 

 none peculiar to the Patagonian Sub-region ; while 10 were 

 restricted to the Sub- Andean Sub-region; 2 were common 

 to the Sub- Andean and Central American Sub-regions; 11 

 were peculiar to the Amazonian Sub-region, and 7 to the 

 Brazilian Sub-region ; and 1 was common to the Amazonian 

 and Brazilian Sub-regions. 



Dr. BowDLER Sharpe stated that during a recent exa- 

 mination of the specimens of Ar deir alius flavicol lis in the 

 collection of the British Museum he had discovered that the 

 birds recorded from Bourou and Ceram belonged to a totally 

 different species, closely allied to Ardeiralhis ivoodfordi, of 

 Ogilvie Grant, from Guadalcanar ; and as the Ceram bird 

 appeared to be without a name, Dr. Sharpe proposed to call 

 the species 



Ardeirallus pr^termissus, sp. n. 



Similis A. woodfordi, sed sordidior, brunnescentior^ et collo 

 postico brunnescente nee castaneo, et subcaudalibus 

 cineraceis uec arenariis distiuguendus. Long. tot. 19 

 poll., ala 8'2, tarso 2'6, digito medio cum ungue 2'4. 



Hab. in insulis Moluccanis^ " Ceram " et " Bourou " dictis. 



Dr. Sharpe also read a list of the birds obtained by 

 Surgeon-Captain Penton near Suakin in the Red Sea. About 

 40 miles to the south-west of the town Captain Penton had 

 visited the forest district of Erkowit and had obtained 

 specimens of Francolinus erkeli, adding thereby consider- 

 ably to our knowledge of its northern range. Some of the 

 migratory birds were of considerable interest, as indicating 

 the route by which certain species proceeded towards South 

 Africa. The collection included examples of the following 

 species : — Argya acacia, Corvics scajmlaris, Cuculus canorus 

 (jr.), Coccystes glandarius, Coracias garrula (jr.), QLna 

 capensis, Pterocles lichtensteini, Pteroclurus senegallus, 

 Numida ptilorliyncha, Ammoperdix heyi, Circus macrurus, 



