1890.] GUINEA-FOWL FROM THE ZAMBESI. 87 



last, I have taken considerable trouble to find a correct name for it, 

 but as yet, I regret to say, not quite successfully. It belongs, as 

 will he observed; to a species allied to N. cristata, of which I have 

 examined a fine skin kindly lent to me by Mr. Blittikofer and 

 obtained by that gentleman in Liberia in 1880. It agrees generally 

 with N. cristata in its spotted body, white-ed-ied primaries, broad 

 black ring round the neck, and crested head. But it seems to differ 

 from N. cristata in having a conspicuous fold of naked skin at the 

 back of the neck of a pale yellowish-grey colour, the naked skin on 

 the throat not red but leaden-grey, and a slightly feathered chm. 



The representative of N. cristata on the eastern coast of Africa is 

 commonly supposed to be i\^. edouardi, Hartlaub, of which N. 

 verreauxi, Elliot, is a synonym (cf. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 496). 

 Mr. Elliot, in his ' Monograph of the Phasianida},' it is true, refers 

 JSr. edouardi to N. cristata, and makes I^. verreauxi different. But 

 it appears that the specimen in the Paris Museum, mentioned by 

 Mr. Elliot (' Ibis,' 1870, p. 300) as an example of his iV. j^erreawx*, is 

 the identical specimen upon which Dr. Hartlaub established his 

 N. edouardi K Therefore, I hold xV. verreauxi to be =K edouardi. 

 But I am unable to say positively whether i\^. edouardi is distinct 

 from iV. cristata, as also to which species the Zambesi bud should 

 be referred. One of the tvpes of X verreauxA (formerly living in 

 the Jardin d'Acclimatation, 'Paris, and subsequently in this Societv s 

 Gardens -) is now in the British Museum. I have examined this 

 specimen and have compared it with Mr. Reid's bird now before us. 1 

 have also examined the other specimens of the same form of Guinea- 

 fowl in the National Collection, and have quite satisfied myself that 

 Mr. Reid's bird is identical with a specimen obtained on the Zambesi 

 by Dr. Kirk. But according to Mr. Elliot his iV. verreauxi (i.^ e. N. 

 edouardi) had when living a " very conspicuous red throat " , of 

 which, indeed, there are also some indications in the type specimen 

 of that species now in the British xMuseum ; but this was certainly 

 not the case in the Zambesi bird when alive. 



I must therefore leave the question of the exact name of the 

 Zambesi G-uinea-fowl unsettled, but I claim to have established the 

 following point satisfactorily : — /, ti • » 



The Numida of the Zambesi referred by Capt. Sperling ( Ibis, 

 1868 p. 291), by Mr. Elliot (Mon. Phas. ii. sub tab. xlvi.), and by 

 Mr. Sharpe (B. S. Afr. p. .586) to N. pucherani is not that speaes, 

 but a species more nearly allied to N. cristata, and possibly —N. 

 edouardi, Hartl., if the latter is really different from iV. cristata. 



The figure (Plate XII.) represents the head of the Zambesi 

 Guinea-fowl, taken from a sketch made by Mr. Smit of the living 

 bird. 



' See also my remarks on this point, P. Z. S. 1871. p. 496. 

 ' See List of Vert. An. 1883, p. 495. 

 ' Ibis, 1870, p. 300. 



