Vol. xliii.] 46 



described by Sir Andrew Smitb were placed respectively in 

 the genera Otiis and Scops, and there was no Asio describfld as 

 abyssinicus, Mr. Sclater's proposed new name is unnecessary. 



Lord Rothschild then exhibited a white variety of 

 Scopus umbretta bannermani C. Grant. 



Dr. C. B. TiCEHURST forwarded the following communi- 

 cation : — 



In the 'Bulletin' for October 1920 (xli. p. 12-13) I de- 

 scribed a new Reed- Warbler from Mesopotamia under the 

 name of Acroceplialus babylonicus, and before doing so I 

 thought I had exhausted all possibilities that this remarkable 

 bird had never been described before. In the summer of 

 this year, Mr. A. T. Goodson, of Tring Museum, kindly 

 forwarded for my inspection a Reed- Warbler recently col- 

 lected by Mr. Loveridge in Tanganyika Territory at Kilosa 

 (about 150 miles west of Dar-es-Salaam), together with the 

 type of Calamoherpe griseldis Hartl., and drew my attention 

 to the fact that these two specimens were not different to 

 my A. babylonicus. On comparing these with one of the 

 Mesopotamian skins I find I must concur, there being, 

 allowing for slight colour-diflFerences due to different times 

 of year in which the African and Mesopotamian specimens 

 were obtained, no difference whatsoever. In 1920 I did not 

 know that Hartlaub's type was unique and that it was in the 

 Tring Museum, and I was misled into thinking that it 

 belonged to the resident African Reed-Warbler group 

 [CalamocicJda) with quite different wings (cf. ISharpe, ' Hand- 

 list,' iv. p. 206). Hartlaub^s type of C. (griseldis was 

 obtained by Emin Pasha (^no date) at Nguru (just north of 

 Kilosa) and is described in Abh. Nat. Ver. Bremen, xii. p. 7 

 (1891). Mr. Loveridge's bird is labelled ? , Kilosa, 12. ii. 21. 

 Henceforth, therefore, this bird must be known as Acro- 

 cephalus griseldis (Hartl.). But out of my mistake comes 

 good ! and two mysteries are cleared up, for it seems pretty 

 clear now that this bird is a migrant breeding in a restricted 



