A7O Mr. A. L. Butler on the 
I do not consider that the alleged sexual differences in 
the wing-pattern or the unmottled plumage of the back are 
sufficiently well-established facts to be accepted as generic 
characteristics, and J prefer to call the bird a Mirafra. 
Very little appears to be known of the changes of plumage 
in these two species. As to sexual differences in the wing- 
pattern, Captain Shelley’s own description (p. 74) of “adults ” 
does not bear this out. He describes a 6, a ? juv.?, and 
a ? (of P. erythropygia) as having “the outer edges of the 
quills narrowly edged with buff, with the mner webs nearly 
of one shade of brown, the pale portions being almost 
obsolete.”” He then describes a 9,a ¢, anda 2 with * the 
primaries having nearly the whole of the outer web ard the 
greater portion of the inner web cinnamon, of the same 
> Wherein, then, les the 
shade as the upper tail-coverts.’ 
sexual difference? And it does not seem to be made any 
clearer in the description of Pinarocorys nigricans (p. 72). 
In the case of the latter species, the late Dr. Stark (§ Fauna 
of 8S. Africa: Birds,’ vol. 1. p. 207) does not mention any 
sexual differences. 
In ‘The Ibis’ for 1902, p. 292, Capt. Boyd Aiexander says : 
“the adult male of Mirajra erythropygia differs from the 
female in bemg more rufous on the wings and tail. The 
primaries are broadly edged with rufous on their outer webs, 
while the outer tail-feather is entirely rufous.” 
All of my birds are unquestionably males; one of them 
was certainly breeding, and another apparently so, though 
shot from among a large flock. In all five the outer tail- 
feather has a slanting brown mark occupying the greater 
part of the terminal half of the inner web. 
All of them shew an extremely abraded condition of the 
plumage of the upper surface. They are practically uniform 
dark brown above, with the heads slightly darker than the 
backs, and the centres of the feathers darker than the exposed 
edges. They lave only the narrowest remains of rufous 
edges to the primaries, which are uniform dark brown above 
and below. 
