OCR Text |
Show 1870.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON ETHIOPIAN HIRUNDINIDEE. 301 1861, p. 103) likewise belongs to the small dark-coloured subspecies of C. rupestris. 6. COTYLE OBSOLETA. Cotyle obsoleta, Cab. Mus. Hein. Th. i. p. 50 (1850) ; Miill. Journ. f. Orn. 1855, p. 5; Hartm. Journ. f. Orn. 1863, p. 238; Gray, Hand-1. of B. i. p. 74 (1869). Cotyle rupestris, Riipp. Syst. Uebers. p. 22 (1845); Vierth. Nauman. 1855, 'p. 471; Heugl. Syst. Uebers. p. 17 (1856); Taylor, Ibis, 1859, p. 47; Heugl. Peterm. Mitth. 1861, p. 21; Adams, Ibis, 1864, p. 14; Hartm. Journ. f. Orn. 1864, p. 387. Cotyle cahirica, Brehm, Journ. f. Orn. 1853, p. 163, et Extrah. p. 96. Cotyle palustris, Tristr. Ibis, 1867, p. 363 (nee Steph.). Cotylepaludibula, Tristr. Ibis, 1869, p. 437 (nee Riipp.). Above very pale greyish brown, dark on the head and nape ; wing-coverts and quills darker brown, with light edgings to the feathers, these being narrow in adult, broad in young birds; rump and upper tail-coverts very pale greyish brown; tail-feathers light greyish brown, with a white spot on the inner web of all the feathers except the two middle and two outer rectrices ; chin whitish, unspotted ; throat and breast white with a very faint fulvous tinge ; under tail-coverts darker greyish brown, with faint edgings of pale brown; under wing-coverts greyish brown mottled with white ; bill dark brown; feet light brown. Total length 5 inches, wing 4*65, tail 1*75. Hab. Resident in Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia, as also on the coast and Sinaitic mountains (Heuglin) ; Egypt (Brehm) ; Nubia, Fifth Cataract of the Nile (Gallon, spec. Mus. Brit.) ; Syria (Bartlett) ; Palestine (Tristram). I had already in m y collection a Syrian specimen obtained by Mr. Edward Bartlett which I had noted as different from the usual O. rupestris ; and after some research I found that it must be the Cotyle obsoleta of Cabanis from North-eastern Africa. This species is said to be exceedingly close to G. rupestris, but distinctly smaller and paler in colour. The underside from the chin to below the breast is almost pure white, the spots on the throat wanting ; and the reddish blush is much more faintly developed, or is more or less absent altogether ; hence the colour of the belly and vent appears more uniform with the colour of the breast. The white spots on the tail are smaller. This is a very good diagnosis indeed, and exactly illustrates the difference between C. rupestris and C. obsoleta. The present bird appears to be the common Crag-martin of E°ypt, and has been united by almost all writers on the ornithology of that country to the larger and darker-coloured C. rupestris. The latter species appears to be rare in Egypt, although it is noticed by Dr. Brehm, and is also probably the bird to which Dr. Leith Adams (I. ci) refers when he says : - " Some males are darker in plumage than others; this I noted particularly in one individual PROC. ZOOL. Soc-1870, No. XXI. |