obtained in British East Africa. 641 
dition, and in a greater or less degree by other examples from 
Somaliland and the Niam-Niam country. — E. B. S.] 
348. Mesopicus pceocephalus. 
Mesopicus goertan (part.) Hargitt, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xviii. 
p. 368 (1890) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1892, p. 308 (Turquel). 
Mesopicus goertm centralis Reichen. Orn. MB. viii. p. 59 
(1900). 
Mesopicus pceocephalus (Swains.) ; Grant^ Ibis, 1902, 
p. 425. 
a. S ad. Entebbe, March 13, 1895. 
h. S ad. Entebbe, May 18, 1895. Bill greenish horn- 
coloured ; feet scaly slate-coloured ; iris cinnamon-brown. 
[Dr. Beichenow (Orn. MB. 1900, p. 58) has proposed to 
separate this species into four races, the first being the true 
M. goertan from Senegal. This is a bird with light olive- 
yellow back, while the under surface is very pale ashy, with 
a yellowish patch on the abdomen, sometimes indistinct and 
sometimes absent altogether. The light coloration, however, 
distinguishes this form, which is confined to Senegal. 
M. goertan pceocephalus is said by Dr. Beichenow to differ 
in the paler and greyer tone of the olive-yellow of the upper 
surface, and in the middle of the belly being only slightly 
washed with a tint of orange-yellow. Hab. West Africa 
from Gambia to Loango. 
M. goertan abyssinicus, from Abyssinia, Kordofan, and 
Sennar, is said to be distinguished by the darker olive-green 
of the upper surface and the scarlet abdominal spot, which is 
surrounded by a wash of yellow. 
There is certainly more of a red spot on the abdomen 
in Abyssinian and Sudanese birds, but it is often absent 
altogether, and then there is no tangible diflperence between 
Eastern and Western birds. It is impossible to distinguish 
between a bird from Fashoda and one fron the Eantee 
country. • 
M. goertan centralis is another race, according to Dr. 
Beichenow, found from the Gazelle River to the Niam-Niam 
and Siik countries. It is said to be like M. g. abyssinicus, but 
