Birds from fJic West Coasf of Afr/'ra, 231 



There lias been a gi'eat deal of confusion over the African 

 Dicruriclae. Dr. Reichenow has " himped " all the West 

 Coast forms under D. afer Liclit., which specific name 

 Oberholser shews cannot stand at all ! (Proc. U.S. Nat. 

 Mus. xviii. pp. 919-920). I have carefully gone into the 

 various points raised by Mr. Oberholser, and can bear him 

 out in all his assertions. 



The two birds which Mr. Lowe obtained in Liberia and 

 on the Gold Coast are examples of Dicrurvs (issiniUis 

 atuclns Oberholser, which form is confined to the N.W. 

 coast of Africa from Liberia to the Niger. Dicriirus assim- 

 ilis utactus differs from the Southern form D. ussiinUis in 

 having the wing-quills darker^ and the gloss on the entire 

 plumage with more of a bluish than a greenish sheen, as is 

 the case in tlie southern bird, though this latter character 

 is not always constant. In other respects Mr. Oberholser's 

 remarks on the species are borne out by the examples which 

 I have examined. 



In Mr. Chubb's list of birds found in Liberia he mentions 

 a single example of IHcrurus mudestus Ilartl., which ought 

 probably to be leferred to D, atactus. 



The former s])ecies, of which there are six specimens in 

 the Natural Histoiy Museum from the type locality, is, 

 in my opinion, confined to Princes Island in the Gulf 

 of Guinea: it was described by Hartlaub;, Rev. Mag. Zool. 

 1849, p. 495. All the examples which I have examined 

 are large birds, with a wing measurement varying in males 

 from 5*4 to oh inches ; the females are slightly smaller. 

 Moreover, the steel-blue gloss on the feathers of the head, 

 and the heavy bill, help to distinguish the species from tlje 

 closely allied form found on the mainland. 



D. niodestvs must therefore be eradicated from the 

 Liberian list and D. a. atactus added in its stead. 



Oriolus lakvatus jjRACHYRHyisfCHiLTs Swaius. 

 Orlulus tarvatus hrachprhj/tic/ms Reich, ii. p. 660, 

 a.(^. Axim. ITth Feb., 1911. (No. 480,) 

 Iris red ; bill reddish brown ; feet blue. 



