638 MR. BLANFORD ON ABYSSINIAN SPECIES OF HYRAX. [Dec. 9, 
were obliged to kill the young ones, as they would not eat. Whilst 
in the cage, the old bird whistled, every now and then, its clear, 
peculiar call-note. 
I have often seen these birds poised in the air, almost stationary, 
with their wings quivering rapidly, after the manner of some King- 
fishers, for perhaps a minute or two at a time, after which they 
would shoot down suddenly to the earth, and bear off in triumph the 
victim of these operations, which, I imagine, must have been some 
insect. A friend of mine saw one of them engaged in devouring a 
large beetle ; so that the story of their living exclusively on ants can- 
not be true. They are, apparently, inquisitive birds; for whenever 
I approached one of them, he stretched out his neck, and, figuratively 
speaking, stood on his “tip-toes”’ to have a better look at me. I 
found them exceedingly tenacious of life, requiring a deal of killing 
for so small a bird. The origin of the soubriquet ‘‘ Mocking-bird,” 
which, I believe, is shared by sume others of the Saxicolinz, I have 
been unable to discover. I have never heard any mimicry in its 
notes, though it will readily answer if whistled to. 
10. On the Species of Hyrax inhabiting Abyssinia and the 
Neighbouring Countries. By Wittiam T. Bianrorp, 
C.M.Z.S. 
During the last two years Dr. Gray has described, from specimens 
in the British Museum, four new species of Hyrax from Abyssinia. 
Two of these, H. brucei and H. alpini, were described in 1867, before 
the Abyssinian expedition (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4. vol. i. 
pp. 44, 45); and two other species, one belonging to each of the 
proposed genera Euhyrax and Dendrohyraa, were also shown to have 
been brought from southern Abyssinia. 
My attention was thus drawn to the subject of the Abyssinian 
Hyraces just when starting for the expedition. During the time spent 
in Abyssinia, I had many opportunities of collecting and observing 
these animals ; and the first few specimens obtained exhibited such 
an unusual amount of variation, that I endeavoured to procure as 
large a series as I could. I collected altogether twenty-eight speci- 
mens from various localities, about twenty of which are now in the 
British Museum ; and these enable me, I think, to throw some light 
upon the specific characters. Since returning from Abyssinia I haye 
had opportunities of examining both Dr. Gray’s types in the British 
Museum and the specimens now in the Berlin Museum described by 
Hemprich and Ehrenberg in the ‘Symbole Physice.’ Meantime 
Dr. Gray had described as new H. ferrugineus and H. irrorata, with 
a variety named luteogaster cousidered to be probably also distinct, 
from specimens brought from Abyssinia by my friend Mr. Jesse. 
Of the specimens obtained by me, one was shot on the shores of 
Annesley Bay ; three in the passes leading to the highlands, at heights 
of 2000 to 4000 feet above the sea; two at Senafé, 8000 fect; a series 
