1873] OF THE ETHIOPIAN REGION. 597 



pearance, the flanks also somewhat mottled, with black centres to 

 the feathers ; under wing-coverts white, streaked with black, the 

 lower ones entirely black ; bill black ; feet brown, tinged with lead- 

 colour ; iris dark olive. Total length 1 5'5 inches, culmen l»'l, wing 

 7*4, tail 10 - 2, tarsus 105. 



Young. Above brown, the lower back and wing-coverts margined 

 with pale rust-colour ; crest brown, with a slight greenish tinge on 

 some of the feathers ; quills brown, with a purplish gloss on the inner 

 secondaries ; tail purplish brown, with a greenish gloss near the base, 

 the two exterior feathers tipped with white on the outer web ; under 

 surface of body dull white, tinged with ochre on the abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts, the throat and chest indistinctly marked with dull 

 brown in the centre of some of the feathers ; under wing-coverts 

 buffy white, the lower ones blackish, the quills white at the base of 

 the inner web only, showing no external alar speculum ; bill horn- 

 brown, the under mandible reddish. 



The southern bird is the largest, measuring 7'4 in the wing. The 

 northern ones measure 6 , 5-7" 1, but there is no ditference in plumage. 



Hub. N.E. Africa : along the Nile northwards to Dongola, in 

 Senaar and all over the White-Nile district (Von Heugliri) ; Upper 

 Lebka and Anseba valleys (Blanford) ; Waliko and Gabenaweldt- 

 g'bnfallon, August 1868 (Jesse). W.Africa: river Gambia (Mus. 

 R. B. S.) ; Sierra Leone (Fraser) ; Fantee (Ussher) ; Denkera, Dec. 

 1S71, and Jan. 1872 (Blissett). S.W. Africa: Damara Land, 

 Elephant Vley, Nov. 18G9, and Otjimbinque, March 18G3 (Anders- 

 son). S. Africa: Swellendam (Cairncross) ; Limpopo river 

 ( Walilbery). 



My friend Mr. H. F. Blissett sent me the following note on a 

 specimen which was obtained for him from the forest country of 

 Denkera in the interior of Fantee: — "This I believe to be a very 

 rare bird indeed. From what I can gather from Aubinn, he has 

 only 7 seen one before, which Governor Nagtlas sent to Holland. He 

 calls it a Nightingale ; and my own collector confirms the fact of its 

 singing when the rain is coming on. It was shot in Denkera in 

 December 1871 ; and I have ordered him to get some more speci- 

 mens for you." Whether any credence can be given to the fact of 

 this bird " singing " will be found some day by some European col- 

 lector ; for the native accounts are unfortunately very untrustworthy, 

 and it is quite certain that its rarity was exaggerated by Aubinn to 

 Mr. Blissett ; for he obtained one or two examples for Governor 

 Ussher, and sent at least one specimen to Mr. Higgins. Mr. Blis- 

 sett's bird being in a peculiar state of change of plumage, Aubinn 

 may have referred to it in the sense of only having seen one exactly 

 similar bird ; for I know by experience that birds of all kinds which 

 differ in sex or in young plumage, are always considered by the 

 natives to be distinct species. 



3. COCCYSTES JACOBIN US. 



Coucou huppe de la cote de Coromandel, Month. PI. Enl. vi. pi. 872 



(1783). 



