Vol. xlii.] 22 



CHAriN ; Capt. Dewhurst ; Lt.-Col. A. Delme-Radcliffe ; 

 T. W. Herbert ; R. A. Molden ; R. M. Paddison ; 

 G. DE H. Vaizey, jun. ; W. Watts ; R. H. White j W. L. 



WiLLETT. 



A Special Meeting was held at 5.30 p.m. at the 

 Zoological Society's Lecture Room on the 9th November 

 1921, when a most interesting series of cinematograph 

 pictures of certain phases in the life-history of the Cuckoo 

 was shown by Mr. E. P. Chance. 



This film was the result of four years concentrative study 

 of one particular Cuckoo ; and it is no exaggeration to state 

 that such a remarkable piece of field-work has never had its 

 equal. It would be rash to prophesy, but there seems little 

 probability that it will for some time to come, at any rate, 

 be surpassed in completeness or for the deliberate, patient, 

 and carefully planned scheme and scope of its operations. 



We congratulate Mr. Chance on a unique piece of 

 scientific field-study. 



Mr. W. L. ScLATEii forwarded the following notes on 

 African Birds : — 



PlECTROPTERUS GAMBENSIS. 



An examination of the not very satisfactory series of the 

 Spur-winged Groose in the British Museum inclines me 

 to believe that those from south of the Zambesi can be 

 distinguished from those from the rest of Africa by the 

 greater amount of black on the underparts and by their 

 black under tail-coverts. 



Plectropterus niger was founded on a live individual in 

 the Zoological Gardens. It was imported from Cape Town, 

 but was stated to have come originally from Zanzibar — an 

 unlikely locality for such a bird. It probably was a South- 

 African bird. 



Sarkidiornis melanotos. 



(^audc Grant ('Ibis,' 1915, p. 72) states that African 

 examples of this Goose are constantly smaller than those 



