Birds of the Gold Coast Colony S^c. 283 
The climate of the Hinterland is far better than that of 
the coast and the forest-region, and the fever is there of a 
mild form. The rainy season is from July to November, 
commencing in Ashanti a month earlier. By the end of 
October signs of the dry season appear, and then only 
occasional showers are experienced. Towards the end of 
November the Harmattan sets in, increasing in strength in 
December, and lasting till the middle of February ; under its 
dry and searching influence everything becomes dried up, 
and the birds leave the open country and seek shelter in the 
belts of woodland along the streams and watercourses. 
Near Gambaga many important forms of bird-life, 
including several rare Desert-Larks, such as Heliocorys 
modesta and Mirafra erythropygia, were obtained, both in 
the district itself and to the northward near the Anglo- 
French boundary, as also in the little-known country around 
Salaga. 
In our Hinterland collection, all the forms are either 
Senegambian or Abyssinian. There is hardly a forest- 
species represented in it, as the list will shew. With the 
exception of the forest-region, it is difficult to define any 
exact areas of distribution for West- African birds. The fact 
of species from North-eastern Africa being found right 
up in the Gold Coast Hinterland shews that no serious 
obstacle to a wide distribution exists throughout the little- 
known countries directly south of the Sahara, which form, 
as it were, a roadway between the Nile and Senegambia. 
According to Lieutenant Joalland of the French Mission to 
Lake Chad, the country about Zinder, in Northern Haussa- 
land, has an abundant supply of water, the region along the 
northern shore of Lake Chad is barren and absolutely 
devoid of food, while Kanem is a series of sand-dunes and 
oases. 
A system of rivers must influence to a great extent the 
distribution of birds. This is readily perceived on watching 
the banks and vicinity of the African rivers, for there 
numbers of birds may be seen congregated and continually 
moving up and down their courses. These migration-move- 
