83 [Vol. xxxi. 



feathers green and with very little scarlet on the upper 

 breast only, the belly and under tail-coverts being yellowish- 

 green. From the female of L. quadricolor it differs in 

 having a black pectoral band. As the tail-feathers in this 

 specimen are in moult and a partially grown feather on the 

 left side is green like the rest^ it seems probable that the 

 sex has been correctly determined by the native collector, 

 and that the specimen is not an immature male, as might at 

 first be supposed. 



Hab. Coastal Districts of British East Africa : Lamu, 

 Takaungu, Malindi, Rovuma. 



Type in the British Museum : [ c? ] No. 123. Takaungu, 

 15. iii. 01. Presented by A. B. Percival. 



Obs. There are five male examples of this subspecies 

 in the British Museum : we procured three males and a 

 female. 



Mr. D. A. Bannerman exhibited specimens of a new 

 subspecies of Oyster-catcher found in the eastern islands 

 of the Canary group, and made the following remarks : — 



"The existence of a black Oyster-catcher in the Canary 

 Islands is by no means a recent discovery. It is, however, 

 decidedly a scarce bird and very poorly represented in 

 museums. There are two adult females in the British 

 Museum from Graciosa and Fuerteventura, presented by 

 Mr. E. G. B. Meade- Waldo, and an adult male in the 

 Liverpool Museum from Graciosa, procured by the late 

 Canon Tristram, and kindly lent me for examination by 

 Dr. Clubb. Up to the present time these specimens had 

 been considered identical with Hcematopus nigei\ the Black 

 Oyster-catcher found in South Africa, but on comparing 

 birds from the two localities it at once became apparent 

 that important differences existed. I therefore propose to 

 name this bird 



H^MATOPUS NIGER MEADE-WALDOI, Subsp. U, 



Hamatopus capensis Meade-Waldo (nee Licht,), Ibis, 

 1889, pp. 13, 508; 1890, p. 437; 1893, p. 201. 



Adult. Similar to //, idrjer Tcmm., but decidedly smaller, 



