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Show 638 MR. BLANFORD ON ABYSSINIAN SPECIES OF HYRAX. [Dec. 9, were obliged to kill the young ones, as they would not eat. Whilst in the cage, the old bird whistled, every now and then, its clear, peculiar call-note. I have often seen these birds poised in the air, almost stationary, with their wings quivering rapidly, after the manner of some Kingfishers, for perhaps a minute or two at a time, after which they would shoot down suddenly to the earth, and bear off in triumph the victim of these operations, which, I imagine, must have been some insect. A friend of mine saw one of them engaged in devouring a large beetle ; so that the story of their living exclusively on ants cannot be true. They are, apparently, inquisitive birds; for whenever I approached one of them, he stretched out his neck, and, figuratively speaking, stood on his " tip-toes " to have a better look at me. I found them exceedingly tenacious of life, requiring a deal of killing for so small a bird. The origin of the soubriquet " Mocking-bird," which, I believe, is shared by some others of the Saxicolinae, I have been unable to discover. I have never heard any mimicry in its notes, though it will readily answer if whistled to. 10. O n the Species of Hyrax inhabiting Abyssinia and the Neighbouring Countries. By W I L L I A M T. B L A N F O R D, C.M.Z.S. During the last two years Dr. Gray has described, from specimens in the British Museum, four new species of Hyrax from Abyssinia. Two of these, H. brucei and H. alpini, were described in 1867, before the Abyssinian expedition (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 4. vol. i. pp. 44, 45) ; and two other species, one belonging to each of the proposed genera Euhyrax and Dendrohyrax, were also shown to have been brought from southern Abyssinia. M y attention was thus drawn to the subject of the Abyssinian Hyraces just when starting for the expedition. During the time spent in Abyssinia, I had many opportunities of collecting and observing these animals ; and the first few specimens obtained exhibited such au unusual amount of variation, that I endeavoured to procure as large a series as I could. I collected altogether twenty-eight specimens from various localities, about twenty of which are now in the British Museum ; and these enable me, I think, to throw some light upon the specific characters. Since returning from Abyssinia I have had opportunities of examining both Dr. Gray's types in the British Museum and the specimens now in the Berlin Museum described by Hemprich and Ehrenberg in the ' Symbolse Physicee.' Meantime Dr. Gray had described as new H. ferrugineus and H. irrorata, with a variety named luteogaster considered to be probably also distinct, from specimens brought from Abyssinia by m y friend Mr. Jesse. Of the specimens obtained by me, one was shot on the shores of Annesley Bay; three in the passes leading to the highlands, at heights of 2000 to 4000 feet above the sea; two at Senafe', 8000 feet; a series |
