102 
Mr. D. A. Bannerman on rare Birds [Ibis, 
(1. c .), but it is noteworthy that all six birds were obtained 
in March “ at the end of the dry season,” as Mr. Bates tells 
ns in his paper. C. vexillarius apparently only visits this part 
of Cameroon at this time of year. 
In an interesting footnote Messrs. Sclater and Praed 
(Ibis, 1919, p. 659) point out that we may accept as the 
type of this species a bird in the British Museum collection,- 
Brit. Mus. Beg. No. 55/12/19/63, obtained by James Barlow, 
Esq., from Sierra Leone. From information on the label it 
appears to have been the bird originally described by Gould. 
I agree with Messrs. Sclater and Praed that we may accept 
this bird as the type of the species. 
Merops persicus chrysocercus. 
Merops chrysocercus Cabanis & Heine, Mus. Hein. ii. 
1860, p. 139—Type locality : Senegal. 
The two specimens obtained by Mr. Bates at Akonolinga, 
Nyong River, do not belong to the typical race but to 
M. persicus chrysocercus. There is a specimen in the 
British Museum named by Dr. Iiartert M. p. chryso¬ 
cercus from Oued Nca, which almost exactly resembles 
Mr. Bates’s bird (No. 5272) both in the colouring of the 
upper parts and in the length of the two middle tail- 
feathers. The back has not got the golden wash ascribed to 
this species. The second specimen obtained by Mr. Bates is 
immature. I cannot find that Mr. Bates has obtained this 
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater previously in Cameroon. 
Melittopliagus gularis australis. 
Meropiscus gularis australis Reichw. J.f. O. 1885, p. 222— 
Type locality : Gaboon and Cameroon. 
Melittophagus australis Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 611; 1905, 
p. 465; 1907, p. 431 ; Bates, Ibis, 1908, p. 564. 
Melittophagus gularis australis Bates, Ibis, 1909, p. 24. 
Without counting the two birds from Bitye which 
Mr. Bates obtained in 1909 and 1910, there are seven other 
specimens in the British Museum from Cameroon which 
Mr. Bates obtained at Efulen and on the Ja River. These 
