1936.1 Short ,Votes. 301

Botha fringillaris. The British Museum has recently received an example

of this rare Lark from Mr. R. D. Bradfield, who obtained it at Bethal in the Standerton District, Eastfern Transvaal, and presented it t,o the Museum.

This species was originally obtained by the Swedish naturalist J. A. Wahlberg to the “ north of the Drekensberg ” in 1843. It was identified with a Mirafra until Count Gylden- stolpe examined the type and came to the conclusion that Wahlberg’s bird was the same as a species described by Shelley (Bds. Afi. iii. p. 105, pl. 22, fig. 1) as Both dificilis. Shelley’s type was a Lark collected by Mr. T. E. Buckley somewhere in the Orange River Colony in 1875. This Lark is, therefore, now known as Botha fringillaris.

In addition to the type just mentioned there are only two examples in the Museum. One of these was obtained near Heilbron, Orange Free State, by M i . R. B. Woosnam in 1901, and the other by Captain G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton in the same year a t Leeuwspruit, also in t’he Orange Free State. The additional specimen recently received from Mr. Bradfield is a welcome addition to the collections of the British Museum, and extends its range slightly farther to the north.-W. L. SCLATER.

The Correct Name of the Andalusian Quail. On p. 253 of ‘ Travels or Observations relating to several

part,s of Barbary and the Levant,’ by Thomas Shaw (Oxford, 1738), is the following paragraph :-

‘’ The Barbary Partridge is the same with the greater or red-legged Partridge, already known to our Naturalists. But t,here is a Species of the Quail Kind, that differeth from the ordinary one, in having no hinder toe, and in being of a lighter colonr. Both of them are Birds of Passage, .as is likewise the Woodcock which maketh its first appearance in October and cont,inueth till the Ma,rch following. The Africans call it The Ass of the Partridges (Hammar el Hadjel) . ’’

Short A'otu. [Ibis,

To this description in ' British Zoology,' vol. ii. 1776, fourth edition, quarto, Appendix, p. 644, Pennant gave the name Tetrao l 'ridactyla.

This is sufficient description to carry the name. In this case the three toes are diagnostic ; and as there is only one three-toed Quail in these parts this name mnst be used.

Peters in vol. ii. of his ' Check-list.' 1934, p. 143, use5 Tclrno sylzaticus Desfontaiues, 1787, but we now have for the yecies name 7'urni.c t r id~c fy l t r (Pennant).-GREc;oRt RI. XLTHEW,.

[It serms \ ery doubtful I f any of thr naiiws 111 Pennant's Appendix I an he used. The names girrti there m'c mostly quoted from authors, a i ~ l many of tlirm\rere not hrioniial. hut 011 13. 647 he names a new bird -J) , / ta L 7 0 ( d i r Bdgcctr. sho\r in4 tliat lit, hiinsclf did not consistently U i P ~ ~ l l ~ ~ l l l l ~ ~ l l l l l l l fb -ED. ]

On the Spitsbergen Phalarope. there srenis to be some prospect of the birds froni the

s;chiQkr Collection bring available for comparison, it, seeins tiardly worth ivhile to discuss this matter at length. In t'he nieantiiiie an es;tmination of the Xlaslinn birds cannot) decide \\-lirther the East Xtl:inf ic birds differ from those froin t lw West Atlantic, as the)' may belong to either raw.

The Alrchangel bird. on which Jlajor Brooks lays suc~li stress, i v w bought hy Seebohni from lIiischler, the Moravian dealer. I t h;ts no original ticket or collector's nitme, no date. and the I o c ~ ~ l i t y , together with the state of plumage, is highly improb- able. Archangel is not on the niigation route of Spitsbergen liircls. Pleske records this species from the 1-aranger Fjord only from Augiist to October in his n-ork on the birds of t'lie Kolw Prninsula.-F. C . K. Jo~RI); \ Is .

The Forms of Brent Goose, Branta bernicla (L.). ln ;I rewilt paper by Messrs. C. G. and E. G. Bird on the

'. Birds of J a n JIi~?.eri Island '' in ' The Ibis,' 1936, p. 844. the surprising statement is made tlmt, the Light-breasted I h n t Goose. Broitfo bPrniclrr lirofrr (Miiller) i s not now regarded