633 
1921.] the Near East and Tropical East Africa. 
Yalley birds. A specimen from Beersheba is however 
fratercidus , which agrees with the dark A. d. deserti in colour 
but has a much smaller culmen. A. d. frater cuius is also the 
Jordan Yalley bird. To further complicate the problem, 
the pink A. d. algeriensis occurs on the west bank of the 
Nile about Sohag and Luxor. A. d. erythrochroa Rchw. occurs 
farther south on the Nile at Shendi and Khartoum, and is a 
redder, darker bird than any of the above. I have not seen 
examples of katlierince Zedlitz from the Sinai Hills. 
Ammo manes phcenicura (Frank!.). 
The problem of this species in northern Africa is no less 
perplexing. 
An examination of the large series of A. p. arenicola from 
Algeria, Tunis, and Kerin a (Dongola bend of the Nile), 
together with a series of nine birds I collected near Cairo, 
two from the Sivy a Oasis, and one from Solium, shows the 
following :— 
(a) December, January, and May birds from near Cairo 
and Solium have the dark colour of A. deserti deserti. 
Wing 89-96. 
( b ) Two January birds from Siwa Oasis have the pale 
colour with a pink tinge of A. deserti algeriensis. 
Wing 90. 
(c) Spring birds from Algeria have the pale colour of 
A. deserti isabellina. Wing 92-97. 
(d) Two birds from Kerma resemble, in the one case, shot 
on 25. ii., Cairo and Solium birds, and in the other 
case, shot on 5. iii., Algerian birds. 
The problem is this. Are all northern African birds the 
same, or are these three races, as in A. deserti. geographical 
forms worthy of separation ? If they are the same race, 
but having the dark (A. d. deserti) colour in fresh autumn 
plumage, pink (A. d. algeriensis) colour in winter, and sandy 
isabelline (A. d. isabellina) colour in spring, then the three 
races of Ammomanes deserti are probably the same bird in 
different seasonal plumages. This latter does not seem to be 
the case, for all the A. d. algeriensis I have seen have in 
both spring and autumn the pink-tinged coloration. 
