Vol. xxix.] 76 



examples and one young bird, and Mr. W. C. Taithad given 

 Mr. Witherby a specimen, also exhibited, from Caldas de 

 GereZj Portugal. All three specimens closely resembled the 

 single bird in the Tring Museum. They were exceedingly 

 like the British Nuthatch [S. e. britamiica) in colouring and 

 were greyer on the upperparts and less buff on the under- 

 parts than S. e. ccesia. The bill in all was decidedly shorter 

 and blunter, and slightly tbicker than that of S. e. casia or 

 S. e. hritannica, measuring in all three specimens 12 mm. 

 from the nostril to the tip, as against 14-15 mm. in S. e. 

 hritannica. 



IVIr. A. B. Percival forwarded the description of a new 

 species of Crimson-wing from Mount Urguess, north of 

 Guasso Nyiro, which he proposed to name 



Cryptospiza borealiSj sp. n. 



Adult male. Most nearly allied to C. australis, Shelley, 

 from the Nyasa Plateau, but with the general colour of the 

 bi'east and belly much paler, of a light smoky olive-brown 

 tint. As in C. australis, the crimson of the upperparts is of 

 a rather dull shade and confined to the lower back, rump, 

 upper tail-coverts, and outer webs of the innermost second- 

 aries and scapulars. Iris dark hazel ; bill dark horn- 

 colour ; feet light horn-colour. Wing 2 3 inches. 



Adult female. Does not differ from the male (if the sex 

 has been correctly determined by the native collector) ; 

 it has no trace of a buff patch on the lores and round the 

 eye, a character well developed in the allied C. ocularis, 

 Sharpe. 



Hab. Mount Urguess, 7000 ft,, north of Guasso Nyiro. 



Types in the British Museum: ^ ?. 25.viii. 11. Pre- 

 sented by A. B. Percival, Esq. 



Obs. C. salvadorii, Reich., is easily distinguished from the 

 above by its uniform bright crimson back and still paler 

 underparts ; as in the present species, the female resembles 

 the male and has no buff spot in front of the eye. 



