498 Mr. G. L. Bates on the 



Tlie egg mentioned above is a short and perfeetly oval 

 in shape and measures 50 x 43"5 mm. It is pale green 

 or greenish-white, and has, like the bits of broken shell 

 mentioned above, a very peculiar surface, being glossy and 

 smooth, with the exception of scattered minute bosses, or 

 pimple-like projections, all over the surface. 



TuBACUs MERiANi. [Mba,] 



Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 613; 1907, p. 435. 



No. 4067. S ad. Bitye, E. Ja, Dec. 1909. 



The occurrence of this specimen at Bitye shews that there 

 is not such a sharply defined boundary as I had supposed 

 between this coast species and 2\ pei'sa, the com.mon one 

 at Bitye {cf. 'Ibis/ 1909, p. 13). 



TURACUS PERSA. [i\Iba.] 



Titracus 2)ersa persa Neumann, Nov. Zool. xv. p. 374 

 (1908). 



Turacus zenkeri Sharpe, Ibis, 1907, p. 435 ; 1909, p. 13. 



The distinguishiug character of Keichenow^s species 

 T. zenkeri, viz., the width of the w hite line under the eye, is 

 said by Neumann to be of no value. 



I have watched half-a-dozen "Bcmba^^ of this species, on 

 the edge of the forest near Bitye, chasing one another, and 

 playing and " cawing'''' in the tree-tops. Two of them 

 alighted on a limb and performed some curious antics. 

 Sometimes they would touch bills, as if kissing ; sometimes 

 one would touch the plumage of the other with its bill. 

 Then one of the pair would run away from its mate, along 

 the limb, then turn and run back ; and when they met, 

 they would again touch bills. "While they were going 

 through this performance their crests were flattened back, 

 not erected as they usually are. 



Additional eggs have been brought, in two cases with the 

 sitting birds shot on the nest; in another instance with the 

 statement by the bringer that he saw the ]\[ba fly off. All 

 these eggs resemble the two described ('Ibis,' 1909, p. 13) 

 except in shape. The egg that was brought in without the 

 bird measures 35'5 X 34 5 mm. ; a single fresh egg (another 

 would doubtless have been laid) brought with the bird 



