236 Mr. B. B. Sharpe on some African Birds. 



admit the bird as a thin-billed Grithagra^ and I classify the 

 grej- South-African species under dispute as follows : — 



a. uropygio dorso concolori 1. C, leucoptera. 



h. uropygio flavo. 



a', major : iiropygio viridi-flavo 2. C. albogularis. 



V, minor : m'opygio Isete sulphureo 3. C. crocopygia, 



3. Crithagra albogularis. 



Crithagra albogularis, Smitli, S. Air. Q. J. ii. p. 48 (1833, descr. orig.) ; 



Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 67. 

 Selbyii, Smith, App. to Rep. of Exp. p. 50 (1886, descr. orig.) ; 



Swains. An. in Menag. p. 319 (1837) ; Layard, B. of S. Afr. p. 219. 



sulphurata (juv.), Jard. & Selby, 111. Orn. pi. 109. fig. 2. 



citierea, Swains, Classif. of B. ii. p. 294 (1837). 



Above greyish brown, with dark centres to the feathers, 

 giving a striped appearance ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 greenish yellow ; lores and a distinct eyebrow, as well as a 

 spot at the base of the lower mandible, throat, and centre of 

 the belly white ; cheeks and sides of the neck, upper part of 

 the breast, and flanks greyish brown ; under tail-coverts buffy 

 white ; under wing-coverts greyish brown, with a slight yel- 

 low tinge ; wing-coverts and quills dark brown, with edgings 

 of paler brown ; tail-feathers dark brown, edged with dull 

 olive ; upper mandible horn-brown, lower mandible flesh- 

 colour ; legs dark reddish brown. Total length 6'7 inches, 

 culmen 0*5, wing 3'3, tail 2*6, tarsus 0'8. 



I have taken the above description from a specimen given 

 me by Mr. Layard, and procured by that gentleman himself 

 on the Berg River ,^ the exact locality where Sir Andrew Smith 

 obtained his typical examples. We may therefore depend 

 upon having got the true C. albogularis of Smith. My spe- 

 cies, C. croco'pygia^ is very similar, but smaller, more mealy 

 in plumage, and has a bright sulphur-coloured rump. As 

 there has always been a great confusion respecting this spe- 

 cies, owing to the difficulty of consulting Smith's original 

 characters, I subjoin his first description : — 



" Above greenish grey, with some dark variegation ; rump 

 and tail-coverts greenish yellow ; chin, throat, and eyebrows 

 white ; breast and flanks dusky grey ; centre of belly, vent, 

 and under tail-coverts white ; wing and tail-feathers brownish, 

 slightly edged with dull white. Length five inches and a 

 half." _(S. Afr. Q. J. ii. p.48.) 



Again, in the Appendix to the Report of his Expedition 

 (p. 50), Sir Andrew Smith gives the following description of 

 C. Selbyii^ without the slightest reference to tlie previous 

 name : — 



