Birds collected in Nyasaland. 463 



Nyasa, of which the accompanying map (p. 4G2), kindly 

 lent to the Editor of ' The Ibis ' by the Zoological Society of 

 London^ contains full particulars. 



The specimens in the first collection were from Zomba, the 

 Milanji plateau, and Mpimbi, on the Upper Shire. The 

 second collection contained specimens also from Fort John- 

 ston at the south end of Lake Nyasa, Chiromo, and Lake 

 Shirwa, a sheet of water some 50 miles in length lying nearly 

 south of Lake Nyasa, of which little is yet known. At this 

 lake, along the Palombe River, and at Fort Lister, on Mount 

 Milanji, Mr. Whyte procured, not without certain risks, most 

 of the specimens included in the present collection. 



I may here quote in full some notes which I found at- 

 tached to one of his specimens, but which have nothing 

 specially to do with the particular bird : — 



" Fort Lister (see map) is a new station, established at the 

 extreme N.E. end of the Milanji range at an elevation of about 

 3300 feet, on a pass between the Milanji range and Mount 

 Cheza, near the junction of two slave routes, and is of great 

 importance. I proceeded there on the 7th July and remained 

 three weeks with Captain Johnston, who had been stabbed by 

 an assassin in five. places, but was almost recovered, I was 

 too much occupied in the fort, completing the stockade and 

 with other matters, to do much collecting, and it was not 

 very safe work prowling about in the jungle, where the enemy 

 had spies on the look-out, and a revolver in one's belt had to 

 be ready at any moment.'' 



The two former collections contained examples of a very 

 large proportion of new species, 21 in number, or about 10 

 per cent., while I can find only a single new species represented 

 in the present collection. It is certain, however, that Nyasa- 

 land cannot yet be exhausted of its ornithological treasures, but 

 new species will mostly be found among the smaller Passeres, 

 which so frequently hide in the high grass and dense bush, 

 where they are difficult to discover. As soon, therefore, as 

 I saw that the present collection, was composed mostly of the 

 more conspicuous birds that congregate by the water or in 

 the open country, I hardly expected novelty in the species. 



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