1870.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON ETHIOPIAN HIRUNDINIDZ. 301 
1861, p. 103) likewise belongs to the small dark-coloured sub- 
species of C. rupestris. 
6. CoTYLE OBSOLETA. 
Cotyle obsoleta, Cab. Mus. Hein. Th. i. p. 50 (1850); Mill. 
Journ. f. Orn. 1855, p. 5; Hartm. Journ. f. Orn. 1863, p. 238; 
Gray, Hand-l. of B. i. p. 74 (1869). 
Cotyle rupestris, Riipp. Syst. Uebers. p. 22 (1845); Vierth. 
Nauman. 1855, "p. 471; Heugl. Syst. Uebers. p. 17 (1856); 
Taylor, Ibis, 1859, p. 47; Heugl. Peterm. Mitth. 1861, p. 21; 
Adams, Ibis, 1864, p. 14; Hartm. Journ. f. Orn. 1864, p. 387. 
Cotyle cahirica, Brehm, Journ. f. Orn. 1853, p. 163, et Extrah. 
p- 96. 
Cotyle palustris, Tristr. Ibis, 1867, p. 363 (nec Steph.). 
Cotyle paludibula, Tristr. Ibis, 1869, p. 437 (nec Riipp.). 
Above very pale greyish brown, dark on the head and nape; 
wing-coverts and quills darker brown, with light edgings to the 
feathers, these being narrow in adult, broad in young birds; rump 
and upper tail-coverts very pale greyish brown; tail-feathers light 
greyish brown, with a white spot on the inner web of all the feathers 
except the two middle and two outer rectrices; chin whitish, un- 
spotted ; throat and breast white with a very faint fulvous tinge ; 
under tail-coverts darker greyish brown, with faint edgings of pale 
brown ; under wing-coverts greyish brown mottled with white ; bill 
dark brown; feet light brown. ‘Total length 5 inches, wing 4°65, 
tail 1°75. 
Hab. Resident in Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia, as also on the coast 
and Sinaitic mountains (Heuglin) ; Egypt (Brehm); Nubia, Fifth 
Cataract of the Nile (Galton, spec. Mus. Brit.) ; Syria (Bartlett) ; 
Palestine (Tristram). 
I had already in my collection a Syrian specimen obtained by Mr. 
Edward Bartlett which I had ncted as different from the usual C. ru- 
pestris ; and after some research I found that it must be the Cotyle 
obsoleta of Cabanis from North-eastern Africa. This species is said 
to be exceedingly close to C. rupestris, but distinctly smaller and 
paler in colour. The underside from the chin to below the breast 
is almost pure white, the spots on the throat wanting ; and the red- 
dish blush is much more faintly developed, or is more or less ab- 
sent altogether ; hence the colour of the belly and vent appears 
more uniform with the colour of the breast. The white spots on 
the tail are smaller. This is a very good diagnosis indeed, and 
exactly illustrates the difference between C. rupestris and C. 
obsoleta. 
The present bird appears to be the common Crag-martin of 
Egypt, and has been united by almost all writers on the ornitho- 
logy of that country to the larger and darker-coloured C. rupestris. 
The latter species appears to be rare in Egypt, although it is 
noticed by Dr. Brehm, and is also probably the bird to which Dr. 
_ Leith Adams (J. c.) refers when he says :-—‘‘ Some males are darker 
in plumage than others; this 1 noted particularly in one individual 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1870, No. XXI. 
