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Show 416 DR. G. HARTLAUB ON A NEW SALPORNIS. [June 17, species under the name of Hylypsornis salvadori. Salpornis spilo-nota, being extremely scarce in continental collections, and, for instance, not existing in the splendid Museums of Paris, Leyden, Brussels, Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, and Stuttgart, had very probably remained entirely unknown to him, and for this reason the error into which he fell is to be excused. I have now the pleasure of introducing a third typical species, which was discovered near Langomeri, in Eastern Equatorial Africa, by the eminent explorer, Dr. Emin Bey, and of which the unique specimen, a fine adult male, enriches, at present, m y private collection. As the life of m y poor friend, who may still linger in his remote quarters on the Upper White Nile, is at this moment surrounded by the greatest possible dangers, and as no news whatever of him have of late reached us, I think it m y duty to name this fine new bird after its discoverer. Regarding this unique specimen, Dr. Emin Bey writes :-"During a walk through the ripe Eleusine-fields, a small bird met m y attention climbing up and down the haulms, and flying in short whips from one haulm to another. What could it be? Not a Nectarinia to be sure. The little unknown was very silent. But how great was m y pleasure and surprise as m y shot brought down a ' Certhia,' certainly the first bird of this group met with in Central Africa. All m y efforts to procure more specimens were fruitless." Salpornis emini and Salpornis salvadorii are nearly allied species. The system or the pattern of coloration is quite the same in both birds. The differences are these : the drop-like spots of the upper parts are much larger in S. salvadorii (of which a fine adult pair was presented to the Bremen Museum by Prof. Barbozadu Bocage); the irregular bands of the rectrices are very broad and nearly black in S. salvadorii, narrower and browner in S. emini; the irregular white spot-like bands are also decidedly broader in S. salvadorii; in S. emini the first primary has the basal half of the inner web with a whitish serrated marginal lining, whereas in S. salvadorii there are regular circumscribed marginal spots ; in the other primaries the whitish marginal spots on the basal half of the inner web are very conspicuous and sharply circumscribed in S. salvadorii-they are much smaller and more confluent in S. emini; the ground-colour of the remiges and rectrices is nearly black in S. salvadorii, paler and browner in S. emini; the drop-like spots of the underparts are much smaller and less distinct in S. emini. In both species the rounded terminal whitish spots of the single feathers are anteriorly margined by a broad black band or border. The ground-colour of the underparts is in both species a pale greyish drab. The difference between S. emini and the Indian 5. spilonota is much greater, and strikes one at first sight. The whitish spots of the upper parts are smaller, less drop-like, and of a more irregular shape. There is a short, broad, white superciliary stripe, bordered below by a blackish postocular band ; and the underparts are conspicuously more banded than spotted. The internal marginal spots of the primaries are as sharply defined as in S. salvadorii. 1 add the comparative measurements of the three species : |