Vol, xxxvii.] 42 



crown. In M. arnotti tlie crown of tlie ^ varies from 

 quite black to quite white, while very often the forehead 

 and a superciliary only are white ; the ? of arnotti is black 

 and has the throat more or less white, often also the chest. 



The distribution of M. nigra may be said to extend from 

 the Congo to Beuguela and eastwards to Uganda and Lakes 

 Albert and Tanganyika, also the country between Kagera 

 and Kivu. 



The typical M. arnotti inhabits Benguela and South-West 

 Africa, and extends thence along the Zambesi to the Zout- 

 pansberge and Griqualand East. 



The form from Eastern Africa, where it inhabits the 

 soutJiern portion of the Central African lake districts, 

 i. e. Bukoba, the districts between Kageru and Kivu, east 

 to Nguru, is easily distinguished by its smaller bill and 

 feet ; generally the wings are also shorter, and the females 

 seem to have the ear-coverts nearly always white, often 

 tinged with buff or brown ; while the ear-coverts are often, 

 nay, mostly, black in M. arnotti arnotti. 



The young of both forms of M. arnotti are dull, not 

 glossy, but brownish black, though not brown as the adult 

 female and young of M. nigra. Wings of males of the 

 East African form 94-100 mm. (against 100-111 in Damara 

 Land, 99-112 in Angolan males), females 93-99 (against 

 100-105 in Damara Land and Angolan specimens). 

 The East African form must bear the name 



Myrmecocichla aknotti leucol^ma E,chw. 



It was described in Orn. Centralbl. 1880, p. 181, from an 

 adult female from Nguru. At that time the author believed 

 it to be a distinct species, while later on he considered it to 

 be the same as M. nigra and arnotti. It is clearly neither 

 the one nor the other, but a subspecies of arnotti. 



Possibly the Angolan form can again be separated, but, 

 considering the great individual variation in the extent of 

 the white markings as well as in size, I am not quite sure 

 about this question. 



