166 Mr. R. B. Sharpe on the 



linings of quills white ; bill and feet blaek ; iris yellow. Total 

 length 4 inches, culmen 0*5, wing 2'05, tail 1*65, tarsus 065. 



Adult female. Resembles the male, but has the pectoral 

 band chestnut instead of black. 



Young female. — Similar to the adult, but having the white 

 eyebrow, the nuchal spot and margins of the wing-coverts 

 and quills tipped with rust-colour. 



Hab. N. E. Africa, Abyssinian coast-land, the warmer parts 

 of Abyssinia, Sennaar, Takah, Kordofan, and the country of 

 the White Nile ( Von Heuglin) ; Bogos Land (Blanford, Jesse, 

 Esler). 



It is difficult to distinguish this form from B. senegalensis, 

 as the shade of grey on the head varies very much as to its 

 depth of colouring. I am by no means sure that it is not 

 referable to a seasonal plumage of the latter bird, as some of 

 the West-African specimens exhibit a slight greyish tinge 

 on the black head. 



As Dr. von Heuglin suggests, this species has doubtless 

 often been confounded by authors with the true B. senega- 

 lensis ; and it may therefore be the bird thus named by Riippell 

 and himself in their respective lists of N.E. African birds ; but 

 as I do not see how this can be proved without an actual ex- 

 amination of specimens, I prefer to omit the references, in- 

 stead of referring to them with a repeated query. Von 

 Heuglin seems to have found the species pretty generally dis- 

 tributed ; but I have only seen specimens from Bogos, where 

 it appears to be by no means rare. 



Specimens examined. 



Mus. Brit.— a, j. Near Magen, Feb. 18, 1868 (W. T. 

 Blanford). b, $ . Ailat, June 28, 1868 (W. T. B.). 



Mus. R. B. S.—aJuv. Waliko, July 27, 1868 (W. Jesse). 

 b,c, 6 , d,e, $ . Achor, Bogos Land {Esler) . 



Mus. G. E. Shelley. — a, 6 ■ Achor, Bogos (Esler) . 



4. Batis molitor. 



Muscicapa molitor, Hahn & Kiist. Vog. aus Asien, &c, 

 Lief. xx. fig. 2 (1822). 



Platystirapririt, Cab. Mus. Hein. Th. i. p. 59 (1850) ; Grill, 



