1873.] of the ethiopian region. 623 



6. Centropus nigrorufus. 



Le Coucal noirou male, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. v. p. 78, pi. 220 

 (1806); Sundev. Crit. om Levaill. p. 48 (1858). 



Cuculus nigrorufus, Cuv. Regne An. i. p. 426 (1817). 



Corydonix bieolor, Vieill. N. Diet, xxxiv. p. 297 (1819). 



Centropus nigrorufus, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiv. p. 213 (1826) ; Less. 

 Traite, p. 135 (1831) ; Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 455 (1846) ; Bp. Consp. 

 i. p. 107 (1850) ; Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 107, note 

 (1862); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 245 (1867) ; Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. 

 p. 213 (1870). 



Female. Head and neck all round, fore neck and chest deep black, 

 the shafts to the feathers glossy black ; rest of underparts also 

 black, but the black shafts not so distinct ; interscapulary region 

 deep chestnut, with rufous shafts to the feathers ; wing-coverts 

 paler rufous, crossed with narrow blackish bars and very distinct 

 fulvous shaft-stripes to the feathers, these characters being more de- 

 cided on the lesser and greater coverts, nearly obsolete on the median 

 ones ; quills pale rufous, with dusky tips and rufous shafts, the 

 inner secondaries crossed with alternate broad bars of black and 

 rufous or fulvous, with distinct fulvous shafts ; middle of the back 

 pale rufous, minutely barred with black ; lower back, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts glossy black ; tail black, the middle feathers barred 

 with fulvous brown ; under wing-coverts and entire under surface 

 of wing rufous ; bill and feet black. Total length 13 inches, culmen 

 1*1, wing 7"0, tail J-7, tarsus 1'55. 



Hab. S.Africa; Port Natal ( Wahlberg). 



The above description is taken from a bird in my collection, re- 

 ceived by me in exchange from the Stockholm Museum, and obtained 

 by the late Professor Wahlberg, near Port Natal, on the 28th of No- 

 vember, 1840. I have not as yet seen another specimen; and it 

 seems to me as if this bird were in partial change, to judge by ana- 

 logous examples of other black-and-red Centropi. The bars on the 

 tail, which I have made of specific importance, to distinguish it from 

 its African allies, as well as those on the wing-coverts and inner 

 secondaries, may after all be only a token of winter or young 

 plumage. 



7. Centropus grilli. 



Centropus grillii, Hartl. J. f. O. 1861, p. 13; Cab. & Heine, Mus. 

 Hein. Th. iv. p. 107(1862); Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 213 (1870). 



Head, neck, interscapulary region, lower part of the back, tail, and 

 entire underparts black ; lesser wing-coverts pale rufous, rather 

 broadly banded with black ; the shafts pale buffy white ; primaries 

 and secondaries bright cinnamon-rufous, dusky at the tip, the shafts 

 rufous ; tertiaries dusky, with brown shafts ; centre of the back ob- 

 scure dusky ; whole of the inner aspect of the wing pale rufous ; bill 

 and feet black. Total length about 11 inches, culmen 11'", wing 

 5-9, tail from base 6g, tarsus 1°4"' (Hartlaub). 



Hab. Gaboon. 



