1919-] the Birds of the Anglo- Egyptian Sudan. 659 



Cosmetornis vexillarius. 



Semeiophorus vexillarius Gould, ]con. Av. ii. 1838^ pi. xiii, : 

 Sierra Leone. ^ 



Macrodipteryx vexillarius (Gd.) ; Reichw. V. A. ii. p. 371. 



[B. coll.] 2 Mongalla (one a wing only), summer, Mon. 



rChr. coll.] 1 Wau Aug., 1 Mt. Baginzi Mcli. E.G. 



Mr. Chapin (Bull. Amer. Mus. N. Y. xxxv. 1916, 

 pp. 73-78) has recently written a very interesting account 

 of the transequatorial migrations of this Nightjar. His con- 

 clusions are that it breeds in southern Africa only between 

 the months of September and November, and migrates 

 northwards in February to the grass country of the Welle, 

 the Sudan, and Nigeria. An examination of the material in 

 the Museum confirms Mr. Chapin's statements as to dates, 

 but the bird does not appear to come north of Lake No. 



Family Meropid^. 

 Merops apiaster. 



Merups apiaster Linn. Syst. Nat. 10th ed. 1758, p. 117 : 

 southern Europe; Keichw. V. A. ii. {). 320; Butler, Ibis, 

 1905, p. 350, 1909, p. 400. 



[B. coll.] 2 Shendi 2 May, Ber. ; 2 Khartoum 15 & 25 



Apl. ; 2 Gedaref 29 Apl. Kas. 

 [C. & L. coll.] 2 Erkowit 5 Apl. R.S. (" from a flock of 



30 flying north "— W. C. Lowe). 

 "An abundant cold weather migrant'' {A. L. B.). 



* 111 Gould's original description he writes '' Little is known respecting 

 this singular species further than that it inhabits the islands lying 

 between those of Bourbon and Madiigascar ; that it is numeTous on the 

 shores of the Red Sea and in tlie Island of Scutra (.? Socotra)." In the 

 National collection there is an old dismounted specimen with the 

 following on the ticket : " Jas. Barlow Esq., Sierra Leone. Orig. descr. 

 J. Gould Esq., under the name of Ctqjrumdgus vexilla copied from under 

 stand of bird which was mounted in bird-gallery-" This specimen, Mus. 

 reg. no. o-Vl^/19/'0y, was purchased at the disposal of the Zoological 

 Society's Museum. Curiously enough it is omitted in the Cat. Bds. B. M. 

 xvi. p. 598; but we see no reason why it shonld not be accepted as the 

 type of the species and the locality accepted as the type-locality, 

 especially as the bird is not known from Madagascar, Bourbon, or the 

 intervening islands. 



