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Show 1878.] MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE PTEROCLID/E. 25/ back, breast, and shoulders of the wing uniform sandy buff, with a greenish tinge. Lower part of breast crossed by two rather broad bands, the upper one pure white, the lower jet-black. Rest of underparts barred narrowly with buffy white and brownish black. Feathers of the back rufous, barred with greyish black, those on the rump tipped with yellowish white. Greater wing-coverts and secondaries brownish grey, with a white spot at the tip of each feather. Primaries rufous-brown, all but the first two tipped with white. Tail, with the upper and under coverts, light buff, barred with brownish black. Bill reddish ; feet yellow. Total length 9f inches, wing 6-|, tail 3^, bill (along gape) jj-. Another, younger male specimen differs in having a narrow black line over each eye, between it and the white mark, and also by having the back and inner secondaries deep rufous,i. rregularly barred with black, the wing-feathers tipped with buffy white. Outer secondaries blackish brown, like the primaries, some tipped on outer web with light buff, others with a subterminal bar of the same colour. The greater wing-coverts are blackish brown tipped with yellowish white. Female. Head, back, neck, and breast buff, irregularly barred with brownish black, and tipped with buffy white on the back and breast. No band across the breast. Flanks, abdomen, and vent barred with white and black. Wings irregularly barred with black and reddish buff, the feathers tipped with white ; primaries chocolate- brown. Tail and its coverts reddish buff, barred with black and tipped with fulvous. Bill reddish, tip black ; feet yellowish. Total length 9f inches, wing 7, tail 3TT, bill along gape -§•. 12. PTEROCLES QUADRICINCTUS. Pterocles quadricinctus, Temm. Pig. et Gallin. (1815) vol. iii. pp. 252, 713; Wagl. Syst. Av. (1827), Pterocles, sp. 3; Strickl. Proc. Zool. Soc. (1850) p. 220 ; id. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 2nd ser. vol. ix. p. 347 ; Heugl. Syst. Uebers. Vog. N.O.-Afr. (1855) p. 304 ; Hartl. Syst. Ornith. W.-Afr. (1857) p. 205. QHnas bicinctus, Vieill. (nee Temm.) Gal. Ois. pl. 220, nee text (1834). Pterocles tricinctus, Swains. Birds W . Afr. (1862) vol. ii. pl. 23; Von Heugl. Ornith. Nordost-Afr. (1873) Band ii. p. 867. Hab. Sennaar, Abyssinia (Heuglin) ; West Africa (Strickland). Some confusion has been created in the synonymy of this species by Vieillot having figured it in his 'Galeiie des Oiseaux' as bicinctus (a name given by Temminck to quite a different species), while in the text he has correctly described the true bicinctus and not the bird represented in his plate. Although Vieillot's figure only shows three bands across the breast, yet Temminck asserts, in the ' Planches Coloriees' (genre Gang a, footnote), that it is his quadricinctus; and as it is natural to suppose he knew his own species when he saw it, I have taken his determination as the correct one, more especially as I have never been able to find a specimen of Pterocles vt\thfour well-defined bands across the breast. So far as I can judge from the PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1878, No. XVII. \7 |