4:^2 NOVITAIES ZoOtOGIOAl! XXVII. 1920- 



ZNCEBTAE SEDIS * 



382. Parmoptila ansorgei Hart. = Parmoptila wdodhousei ansor'gei. 

 Parmoptila ansorgei Hartert, Bull. B.O. Club, xiv. p. 72 (1904r— Angola). 



Type: '^ ad., Golungo Alto, N. Angola, 9. i. 1904. W. J. Ansorge leg. 

 No. 13. 



This subspecies is very closely allied to P woodhousei woodhousei from Gabun 

 and Kamerun, differiag only in being a little paler, both on the throat and head 

 and on the upperside, and the wing is about 2 or 3 mm. longer. There is a good 

 figure of P. w. woodhousei in the Ibis, 1909, plate II. 



ZOSTEBOFIDAE. • 



383. Zosterops poliogastra erlangeri Neum. = Zosterops poliogastra erlangeri. 

 Zosterops poliogastra erlangeri Neumann, Bull. B.O. Club, xxi. p. 60 (1908—" High mountains of 

 South Ethiopia, Shoa, Harar, Aiussi Mountains, and the Omo region "). 



Type : <J ad., Gadut in Gofa, 31. i. 1901. Oscar Neumann leg. No. 733. 



384. Zosterops omoensis Neum. = Zosterops omoensis. 

 Zosterops omoensis Neumann, Om. Monatsher. 1904. p. 162 (" Taler des Omo-Gehietes"). 



Type: ^ ad., Senti vaUey, between Uba and Gofa, 28.1.1901. Oscar 

 Neumaim leg. No. 690. 



I am incUned to think that omoensis must be a subspecies of Z. abyssinicus. 



3S5. Zosterops abyssinica socotrana Neum. = Zosterops abyssinica socotraha. 

 Zosterops abyssinica socotrana Neumann, BuU. B.O. Club, xxi. p. 59 (1908 — Sokotra). 



Type : <? ad., Dahamis, Sokotra, 350 feet, 20.xii.l898. Ogilvie-Grant and 

 Forbes CoU. No. 190. 



This form is distinguished from Z. abyssinica abyssinica by the lighter, more 

 whitish underside. The difference in the colour of bill and feet is striking in 

 comparing our skins from Abyssinia and Sokotra, but the feet look dark again 

 in those from the Wagar mountains, Somaliland. 



? f 386. Zosterops smithi Neum. = Zosterops senegalensis jubaensis. 



Zosterops juhaensis Brlanger, Cm. Monatsber. 1901. p. 182 (Damasso, Gurra, Juba River). 

 Zosterops smithi Neumann, Orn. Monatsber. 1902. p. 139 (Sillul, Bodele, Western Somaliland). 



Type : (J, Bodele, Sillul, l.viii.l894. Donaldson Smith leg. No. 140. 

 Probably = jubaensis, but topotypical specimens of latter required to be 

 certain of this. 



* The genera Pholidomis Hartl. 1857, Parmoptila Cass. 1859, and Lobomis Sharpe 1874 (the 

 last evidently not distinct from Parmoptila, having been described from the young) are of very 

 doubtful systematic position. In the Gat. B. Brit. Mua. x. Sharpe placed them among the Dicaeidae, 

 before and ^fter " Prionochilus," but in the Hand-Ust, iv. p. 233, he put them in the Sylviidae, 

 evidently following Shelley, while Beichenow had them at the end of the Paridae. Neither of these 

 positions seems to me satisfactory. The bill certainly has a striking resemblance with that of certain 

 Dicaeidae (Dicaeum), but the strong feet and tarsi and the somewhat hard and scanty, almost scale- 

 like plumage are utterly different. The strong feet, large-scaled (not scutellate !) tarsus, and hard 

 plumage (chiefly in Pholidomis) remove them at once from the SyVoiidae. The feet have certainly 

 much resemblance to those of the Paridae, but the hard plumage and free nostrils, not overhung 

 by antrorse feathers, are not at all characters of the Paridae. Perhaps this little group should form 

 a separate family. It would be very valuable to study the biology and to discover nest and eggs 

 of these interesting little birds. 



