ORNITHOLOGY. 
295 
almost unknown, Dr. Kirk being the only naturalist who 
has written upon the birds, and the species which he has 
recorded are sufficiently interesting to arouse our interest 
in the further exploration of the locality. As far as one 
can judge from the materials at present existing in 
museums, the birds of the Zambesi region would appear 
to have their nearest affinities in those of South-western 
Africa, that is, the provinces of Benguela, Mossamedes, 
and the Ovampo country to the north of Damara Land. 
Thus it is that Accipiter ovampensis of Gurney, discovered 
in Ovampo Land, is now known from the Zambesi {Mus. 
Brit.), and, on the other hand, the Zambesi Kestrel {Cerch- 
neis Dickinsoni) occurs also in South-western Africa. In- 
stances of this kind might be multiplied to a greater 
extent, but an exact comparison cannot be made until the 
two regions have been more thoroughly explored. The 
Victoria Falls, up to the present time, constituted the 
only locality whence the peculiar Babbling-Thrush {Pinar- 
ornis phimosus) and Shelley's Wheatear {Saxicola Shelleyi) 
have yet been found, but one of these has now been 
discovered by Mr. Oates in the Matabele country. Future 
research may increase the known range of the other 
Zambesi birds in a southerly direction, and it seems un- 
likely that the Zambesi region possesses a peculiar bird- 
fauna. 
On its arrival in England Mr. Oates's collection was 
placed in the hands of my friend Captain G. E. Shelley 
for determination, and the species were in nearly every 
case identified by him. My task has therefore been a 
very light one. All the field-notes in the following pages 
are taken from Mr. Oates's labels, and I am responsible only 
for the remarks placed between brackets " [ ]." A refer- 
ence is given to my new edition of Layard's Birds of Sotith 
Africa as far as published, to the first edition of that 
work, to my Catalogue of African Birds, and to standard 
works, such as Finsch and Hartlaub's Vogel Ost-afrikds, 
Gurney's edition of Andcrsson's Birds of Damara Land, etc. 
