Annals of the Transvaal Museum 
241 
several new names, which may however prove to be available for sub- 
species, namely, Cisticola muellevi Alexander {Ibis, 1899, p. 446) from 
Tette on the Zambesi and Cisticola cinnamomeiceps Haagner {Ann. 
Transvaal Mus. i. 197, 1909) from Beira. 
Priniidae 
I propose to place in the rank of a family the genus Prinia, which 
differs from flycatchers and warblers in having only ten tail feathers, in 
building a very distinct type of nest and in having eggs which are usually 
quite readily identified. For the present I do not propose to differentiate 
the genera or subgenera into which the groups might be allocated, as the 
family extends to Asia and I have insufficient material for comparison; 
but I may mention, for the information of other workers, that there is 
a decided overlapping in the distribution of southern species. Thus, the 
most widely dispersed is Prinia mistacea, which occurs side by side with 
the bar- throated species in Transvaal and the stripe- throated species of 
the east and south. Precisely in the same way, Burnesia suhstriata (A. 
Smith) overlaps the range of Prinia maculosa (Boddaert) in the south- 
west. I do not think that there can be any doubt that B. suhstriata is not 
correctly allocated in Prinia, though whether it is correctly allocated in 
Burnesia or not remains to be proved, and I therefore follow Sharpe in 
this respect. It has doubtless radiated southwards by way of the west, 
the next species in the genus occurring in the Congo region. 
Sclater and Mackworth-Praed {Ibis, 1918, pp. 676-677) have given us 
some interesting observations in reference to the subspecies of P. mistacea, 
which they allocate as follows: 
Prinia mistacea mistacea: N.E. Africa across to Nigeria and Gold Coast hinter- 
land; with a seasonal plumage, wing 46-52, tail in summer 50, in winter 
60-62 mm. 
P. mistacea melanorhyncha: W. African coastlands, Portuguese Guinea to 
S. Nigeria; no seasonal change, wing 45-51. 
P. mistacea tenella: E. Africa and Uganda to Belgian Congo; no seasonal 
change, wing 48-55. 
P. mistacea affinis: S. Africa, from N. Rhodesia and N. Angola southwards; 
with a seasonal change and wing 48-55. 
Upon comparing the long series in the Transvaal Museum collection, 
I find that an adult specimen from Boror agrees very well with the original 
description of P. m. tenella (Cabanis) ; while six from Beira can hardly be 
distinguished from the Boror specimen, so that this subspecies would appear 
to extend to well within our limits on the east coast. These specimens are 
very reddish on the outer margins of the primaries, secondaries and 
secondary coverts, the tail reddish, the upper back tinged with tawny, 
which increases on the rump and upper tail coverts. Specimens from the 
central, northern and eastern Transvaal and a single specimen from Weenen 
are not so reddish on the wings, tail and upper parts and are larger on the 
average; winter-plumaged specimens from Transvaal agree very well with 
Smith’s description and figure {Illustrations Zool. S. Afr. PI. 77, fig. i), 
except that the text does not agree with the figure in one respect, the sub- 
terminal spot on the tail being described as “brownish-red,” obviously 
by a slip. Smith gives the length of the wing as 51 mm,, tail 66 mm. In 
