602 J)R. R. BOWDLER SUARPE ON B1R1» [Dec. 3, 



as I think that the prevailing opinion is in favour of retaining; 

 that genus. Now, however, I may be allowed to point out that 

 in the three Scolopacine birds considered in the present com- 

 munication the line of division is rather between the Jack Snipe 

 and the remaining two, than between the Snipes and the Woodcock. 

 I would rather, in fact, refer Gallinago ecelestis to the genus 

 Scolopcuv, retaining Galliaago for G. gattinula. 



6. On the Collection of Birds made by Dr. A. Donaldson 

 Smith on his last Expedition to Lake Rudolf and the 

 Nile. By R. Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D., F.Z.S., &c. 



[Received November lfi. 1901.] 



(Plate XXXVI. 1 ) 



Dr. Donaldson Smith's adventurous jouruey may be traced on 

 the excellent map which accompanies his paper in the ' Geo- 

 graphical Journal 'for December, 1900 (vol. xvi. pp. 600-624). 

 A remarkable point of interest for Ornithologists is that insisted 

 upon by the traveller, namely, that on reaching the Omo River he 

 found a great change in the aspect of the Fauna. This is confirmed 

 by the species of birds which he obtained on the marches between 

 the Mursu country and the Nile. A West- African element, already 

 known to exist on the Upper Nile through the collections made 

 by Emin Pasha at Redjaf and Lado, was here traceable farther 

 eastward to the Omo River, as proved by such species as Platystira 

 aJbifrons, Gossypha verticalis, Lybius cequatorialis, and Gossypha 

 omoensis, a near ally of G. giffa/rdi of the Niger. A species 

 of Barbet (Erythrobucco rolleti) was obtained near the Nile, to 

 which region it seems to be strictly confined, as is probably also 

 Grateropus tenebrosus. A certain Abyssinian element is also present 

 among the birds collected between the Omo and the Nile, viz., 

 Cryptorhma afra, Oriolus auratus (vice O. notatus), Laniarius 

 eryihrogaster, Lybius abyssinicus. On the other hand, a number of 

 Somali-land and East-African forms extend beyond the Omo River 

 district, with a slight admixture of Uganda species. Perhaps the 

 most remarkable of these is Phyllostroplms strepitans, an East-Coast 

 Bulbul, u? which examples were obtained by Dr. Donaldson Smith, 

 which 1 have not been able to distinguish from the typical form. 

 On the Omo River, likewise, the species of Heterhyphantes is //. 

 melano.vanthus, which is the East-African, not the West-African 

 form. Ploee'tpasscr doitaldsoni, a remarkable new species discovered 

 by Dr. Donaldson Smith on his first expedition, appears to be 

 confined to the hilly region near Lake Stefanie. 



Francolinus granti. 



Francolinus granti Hartl. : Sharpe. Hand-1. B. i. p. 2ii (1899); 



1 For explanation of the Plate, see p. 622. 



