Vol. xl.] 8 
I have examined 27 specimens of Mechow’s Cuckoo— 
13 from Cameroon, 6 from Angola (the type-locality of 
C. m. mechowi), and 8 from other parts of Africa. I have 
discussed these birds at some length in my paper on 
Mr. Bates’s Collection, which I hope shortly to publish in 
the ‘ Ibis.’ . 
Sarothrura somereni, sp. nov. 
We have in the British Museum a Rail from Brit. H. 
Africa, collected on 20.viii.01 by Mr. 8. L. Hinde at 
Machakos ; the sex of the bird was ascertained by the col- 
lector to be a male. Hitherto it has evidently been supposed 
to be immature, but I can find nothing immature about it 
except the colour of the lower mandible, which is certainly 
pale horn-colour, and suggests that the bird, although it has 
assumed the plumage of the adult, is not more than a 
year old. The immature of Sarothrura rufa and subspecies 
invariably show distinct indications of the chestnut head 
and neck in a very early stage, nor have they the uniform 
markings on the back which the bird from Machakos 
exhibits. 
I believe the bird which Mr. Hinde obtained to be the 
fully-grown female of an undescribed species. I do not 
think it can be classed as a subspecies of Sarothrura rufa, 
although it most nearly resembles the female of S. rufa 
ansorget from Angola, described by Mr. van Someren [ Bull. 
BAO WC xl, 20. 
I describe the bird as follows:—Ground-colour of the upper 
parts black, each feather fringed with buff and having another 
narrow white bar 5 mm. from the tip of the feather, while 
nearing the base of the feather there is still another indica- 
tion of a whitish bar. The result is that the entire upper 
surface of this Rail, including the crown of the head, wing- 
coverts, rump, and tail, has a mottled appearance; primaries 
dark brown, except the outer primary, which has the outer 
web narrowly fringed with white. Outer webs of the other 
primaries faintly speckled with grey. The chin and throat 
are white, breast mottled greyish-brown and white, becoming 
dark on the chest, the ground-colour of the feathers being 
