192 Major H. J. Kelsall on 



X. — Notes on a Collection of Birds from Sierra Leone, 

 By Major H. J. Kelsall, R.A., M.B.O.U. 



(Plate X. and Text-figures 1 & 2.) 



The collection of skins and the field-notes are the result 

 of sixteen months^ collecting and careful observation. 

 Altogether I spent two periods, of twelve months each, in 

 Sierra Leone, from August 1910 to August 1911, and from 

 February 1912 to February 1913. Owing to press of other 

 work I was unable to do any collecting until the last four 

 months of my first tour, and as I could not obtaiu the assist- 

 ance of a native collector, and therefore had to do all the 

 skinning myself, the collection is not so complete as I would 

 have wished. It is, however, I believe, the largest collection, 

 both in number of species and specimens, that has yet been 

 brought from the Colony, and comprises 941 specimens 

 embracing 215 species. I am indebted to Dr. W. C. E. 

 Bovver, of the West African Medical Service, for 38 skins 

 obtained in the Karine District, a portion of the Protectorate 

 which I was myself unable to visit. 



I am deeply indebted to Mr. W. R. Ogilvie- Grant, 

 Mr. C. Chubb, and the assistants in the Bird Gallery of the 

 Natural History Museum for the help they so kindly gave 

 me in working out my collection; also to Mr. W. L. Sclater 

 and Mr. D. A. Baunerman. 



My observations were chiefly carried out in the Peninsula 

 (see Geographical Notes). In April 1912 I spent ten days 

 travelling in the Ribbi and Bumpe Chiefdoms, 30 to 40 miles 

 south-east of Freetown, and visited a place called Yandu, 

 where, at low tide, vast muddy flats are exposed, which I 

 found to be the resort of innumerable wading birds. On 

 these flats I saw large flocks of Flamingoes, Pelicans, Herons 

 of half-a-dozen different species, Spoonbills, Stilts, Whimbrel, 

 Plover, and Sandpipers as well as Gulls and Terns, and, on 

 a little island near the shore, a small colony of White Ibises. 

 Owing to the soft mud and the want of cover, it was very 

 difficult to approach near enough to obtain specimens. 



