Annals of the Transvaal Museum 
237 
same place these authors also reject the name of 5 . flecki Rchw., but 
describe as another subspecies 5 . rufescens transvaalensis from Rustenburg 
District, which is no more valid than the one they reject, as is abundantly 
proven by the long series in the Transvaal Museum collection. Members 
of the genus are subject to a wide range of variation in shade of colour 
in the same localities and the length of the bill varies also considerably, 
males as a rule having longer bills than females. S. whytei (Shelley) has 
been recorded from Eastern Rhodesia by Swynnerton {Ihis, 1907, p. 56). 
5 . pallida Alexander is intermediate between 5 . rufescens flecki and S. 
whytei, and no doubt will prove to be only a subspecies. 
Calamonastes stierlingi Rchw. occurs in the Matoppos, as is shown by 
a specimen from there in the Transvaal Museum collection, but the speci- 
mens from Transvaal recorded by Gunning and Haagner in their Check 
List (1910) and identified by Reichenow as C. stierlingi, are referable to the 
typical C. fasciolatus. 
Heliolais erythroptera (Jardine) was recorded by Claude Grant from 
Gorongoza (Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. xxii. 93, 1908); but Sclater (Ihis, 1911, 
p. 315) has referred the specimens to H. kirhyi Haagner (Ann. Transvaal 
Mus. I. 233, 1909) described from Boror. 
As with other birds which are superficially alike, the large number of 
species contained in the genus Cisticola, as at present constituted, is an 
illustration of inconsistent classification; because they look alike they are 
lumped, together, without regard to structural differences and distribution. 
I have taken as many as nine species within a radius of a mile, and as the 
species in such cases are each representative of groups of greater or lesser 
geographical distribution, it is obvious that there is a deep-seated difference 
between all of them which should find its expression in generic, or at least 
subgeneric, classification. Some years ago I separated the species into 
groups, trusting that these would receive greater attention than had 
previously been the case ; but it seems hopeless to expect the systematists 
of Europe to absorb views having their origin abroad and the time has 
arrived when it becomes necessary to act without consulting them, and 
I therefore make the following arrangement as being the nearest it is 
possible to arrive at as to their natural position in genera: the typical 
Cisticola cisticola of southern Europe has its representatives as far east 
as Australia and southwards to South Africa. Hemipteryx appears to me 
to be closely allied to it, like many more species having been either isolated 
in the southern region beyond the Karroo belt or so influenced by the 
conditions prevailing there that it has become quite distinct ; as with most 
of these southernly evolved species, others have evolved from it again 
after it has radiated northwards to the Drakensberg, so that representa- 
tives of the two species (which are now subgroups) occur commonly side 
by side. These two subgroups are commonly regarded as genera, although 
to be more precise they can be regarded as subgenera only, Hemipteryx 
being characterised by its shorter tail, shorter outermost primary and 
generally larger size. Both genera build a purse-shaped nest with the 
entrance facing skywards, and in this respect they differ from the rest of 
the members wrongly allocated in the genus Cisticola. These species of the 
true Cisticola and Hemipteryx frequent open, grass-covered plains, or plains 
with a few trees and bushes scattered amongst the grass, and side by side 
16 — 2 
