On a new Species of Guinea-fowl. 535 



24. Gallicrex cinerea (Gmelin). 



This bird is probably here recorded for the first time for 

 Negros, for 1 have failed in my endeavours to find any in- 

 formation regarding its occurrence in the island. 



25. Ardea garzetta, Linnaeus. 



L. — On a new Species of Guinea-foivL 

 By W. R. Ogilvie Grant. 



The large-lielmeted Guinea-fowl found in the countries which 

 lie to the north of Lake Nyasa and west of Lake Tan- 

 ganyika has hitherto always been identified with Numida 

 coronata*, a native of the countries between the Zambesi 

 and Cape Colony- When I wrote the ' Catalogue of the 

 Game Birds ' I had only seen one example of the northern 

 bird — an adult male obtained by Mr. F. J. Jackson at 

 Makaruugu in the Ukambani District. Although I then 

 noted the different shape of the helmet in this bird as com- 

 pared with typical N. coronata from the Transvaal^ I was 

 inclined to consider the difference due to individual pecu- 

 liarity, the more so as Fischer and Bohm had obtained many 

 examples in East Africa, all of which had been referred to 

 N. coronata by the German ornithologists. A few^ months 

 ago Dr. Reichenow sent Mr. Sclater a second specimen of 

 the northern form, obtained in German East Africa, and a 

 living example of the same bird, procured at Zanzibar, 

 may now be seen alive in the Zoological Society's 

 Gardens. Mr. Sclater and I have compared both Mr. 

 Jackson's and Dr. Reichenow's specimens once more with 

 typical N. coronata, and have come to the conclusion that 



* [This name, which was based by G. E. Gray on a specimen from 

 " South Africa " presented to the British Museum by General Ilardwicke 

 (cf. Cat. Birds, xxii. p. 376), was published in Gray's Catalogues of 

 1844 and 1867, but without any description. The first published de- 

 scription of the species appears to be that given by Guruey in 1868 in 

 his notes on Mr. Layard's ' Birds of South Africa ' (Ibis, 1868, p. 253). 

 The species should therefore be called ^^ Numida coronata, Gurney," 

 when the authority is appended. — Ed.] 



