1920.] the Birds of tlie Aiiglo-Egyptian Sudan. 835 



point. The adults of the two species may be distinguished 

 as follows : — 



A. A darker bird^ with a brownish back to the head, not 



a pure blue-grey one, a browner back, a brown-tinged 

 breast, and with the rest of the underside a dirty 

 brownish white. Bill longer and stronger, red at the 

 base, red, yellow, or orange for the apical portion ; 

 tip always yellow in dried skins. 



B. A lighter bird, with a clear blue-grey back to the head, 



a grey not brown back, a vinous or pinkish breast, 

 and with the rest of the underside vinous white. 

 Bill shorter and weaker, dusky, vinous black, or 

 black throughout, in dried skins always black. 



These birds occur together in Abyssinia, the Balir el 

 Giiazal,the Shari River countr}^, and the Gold Coast Colony, 

 from all of which countries we have specimens of both forms. 

 Also as we have the dark form from Gambia, and Lord 

 Kothschild has the light form from Senegal {cf. Bull. B. O. C. 

 xxxviii. p. 37), we believe that both species occur in Senegal ! 



The question of names then arises. 



Linnseus's Columba afra was founded on Brisson's Turtur 

 senegalensis (Briss. Orn. i. p. 122) from Senegal. Now 

 which bird did Brisson have? Alter a careful examination 

 of Brisson's description, we have come to the conclusion 

 that it was the dark form, and this view is strengthened by 

 the colour of the bill, which is given as red. Among the 

 many collectors whose work is represented at the Museum, 

 several have given the colour of the dark bird's bill as red, 

 none have given the colour of the light bird's bill as any- 

 thing but black or " vinoiis black." The name of the dark 

 bird, therefore, we consider is Turtur afra (Linn.). The 

 oldest name for the light bird is T. ahyssiuica (Sharpe) . 



There are probably several races of Turtur afra. The 

 names available at present are T. a. kilimensis (Mearns) for 

 the Kilimanjaro form, and T. a. sclateri Rothschild for a 

 possible Uganda race. There is another race which we 

 think should be named. This is the race of T. afra from 



