79 [Vol. xii. 



served, I have been able to ascertain that Temminck's 

 specimens of Black-eared Chats are from South France, 

 Italy, Egypt, Bogosland, and Arabia, and that they all agree in 

 having the under surface of the wing black. Dr. Finsch was 

 unable to inform me which particular specimen might have 

 served Temminck as his type, but presumably his description 

 was taken from one of these examples, or from one similar 

 to them; and seeing that these specimens all have the under 

 surface of the wing black, we are justified in concluding that 

 Temminck''s description of S. aurita applies to the Eastern 

 and not to the Western Black-eared Chat, which has tin- 

 under surface of the wing of a light colour. 



" ' This is indeed all the more probable when we consider 

 that the Eastern Black-eared Chat is the species found 

 throughout the greater part of Southern Europe, as well as 

 in Asia Minor and North-east Africa, while the Western 

 species, so far as I have been able to ascertain, with the ex- 

 ception perhaps of an occasional straggler, occurs only in 

 North-west Africa, South Spain, Sicily, and one or two 

 other West Mediterranean coast districts. 



" ' Hemprich and Ehrenberg's descriptions of S. aurita, var. 

 libyca, and S. amphileuca (Symb. Phys. 1829, or Symb. Aves, 

 1833) are also rather vague, but probably both refer to the 

 Eastern Black-eared Chat, and must therefore be considered 

 as synonyms of S. aurita, Temm. These ornithologists may 

 have had before them examples of the same species, but in 

 different stages of plumage/ " 



Dr. Bowdler Sharpe exhibited some interesting specimens 

 of birds recently forwarded by Mr. G. L. Bates from Efulen 

 in the Cameroons in West Africa. A species of great 

 interest was the adult of Lophotriorchis lucani, a Hawk- 

 Eagle previously known only from immature specimens. The 

 adult male was black above and pure white below, with the 

 exception of a black patch on the sides of the lower breast, 

 and black tips to the thigh-feathers and the under tail- 

 coverts, &c. The axillaries and the inner series of the under 

 wing-coverts are also black, but the quill-lining was white. 



Another interesting species sent by Mr. Bates was the 



