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Show 300 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON ETHIOPIAN HIRUNDINIDEE. [May 12, Now, although there are evident differences in the two birds, I do not think it well to give a separate name to the northern bird, as there are already so many of these races in Africa which have received distinct appellations, and, as far as m y experience goes, this practice has caused much confusion. As I remark hereafter, I believe that Dr. Finsch was not quite correct in assigning a specimen brought home by Mr. Jesse from Abyssinia to the present species. 5. COTYLE RUPESTRIS. Cotyle rupestris (Scop.) ; Brehm, Journ. f. Orn. 1853, p. 452 ; Mull. Journ. f. Orn. 1855, p. 5; Tristr. Ibis, 1867, p. 368; Heugl. Orn. N.-O. Afr. p. 163 (1869) ; Blanf. Zool. Abyss, p. 350 (1870). Above pale greyish brown, darker on tbe head; wing-coverts and quills dark brown, showing in some lights a faint greenish gloss; tail very dark brown, the two middle and two outermost tail-feathers unspotted, the others with an oval white spot on the inner web; throat and breast buffy white, the former thickly marked with small spots of brown, the rest of the under surface of the body rather dark brown with a tinge of buff throughout; under wing- and tail-coverts very dark brown, edged at the tip with fulvous white ; bill black; feet light brown. Total length 5*3 inches, wing 5*1, tail 1*8. Hab. N.E. Africa. Rare in Egypt (Brehm); Abyssinia, Senafe (Blanford). The above description is taken from a European specimen, and must not be too implicitly relied on for exact correspondence with the bird from North-eastern Africa. But I described a specimen of true C. rupestris advisedly, inasmuch as I am not convinced as to the absolute specific identity of the form occurring in Africa with that which occurs in Southern Europe. On the contrary, my belief is that, like C. fuligula, there are two subspecies of C. rupestris- one the true C. rupestris from Southern Europe, the other a diminutive subspecies, darker in plumage altogether, occurring in North-eastern Africa (Blanford), probably Egypt (Adams), Palestine certainly (Tristram), India probably (Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 166), and certainly China (Swinhoe). The probability of the correct identification of the Indian and Egyptian birds depends on future observation ; but I have myself examined specimens from the other localities. Mr. Blanford's Abyssinian bird, shot near Senafe, at an elevation of 7500 feet, belonged certainly to the small race of C. rupestris, and I could not distinguish it from others in the British Museum. The bird which Dr. Finsch identified in Mr. Jesse's collection as Cotyle fuligula does not really belong to that bird or to its northern subspecies, but to the small race of C. rupestris. It has spots on the throat, and is exactly similar to a bird in Lord Waklen's collection from Jericho. I very much question the occurrence of true Cotyle fuligula away from Southern Africa; and therefore I think that the bird thus named by Verreaux from Nubia (Hartl. J. f. O. |