i86 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ORNITHOLOGY, VOL. i. 



No seasonal change in plumage is apparent in this series. A 

 male taken in March is still in immature plumage, with crown olive- 

 green. A November male and a January female are passing from 

 the immature phase to an intermediate condition, having the crown 

 nearly black and the back with black predominating, the feathers 

 being margined with olive-green. It may be that one of these two 

 latter specimens is wrongly sexed and that both are females. The 

 absence of orange on the forehead suggests this view. It seems prob- 

 able that fully adult plumage is not attained under two years of age. 



See SHARPE, Ibis, 1899, p. 612, plumages; id. Ibis, 1891, 

 pp. 252, 253, description of immature male. 



211. Hyphantornis cabanisi Peters. 



Journal fur Ornithologie, 1868, p. 133. Inhambane, Portuguese 

 East Africa. 



9 , Nov., Athi River. 



Through the kindness of the authorities at the U. S. National 

 Museum this specimen was compared with one from Taveita, taken 

 in April (No. 118294, U. S. N. M.). The two agree in dimensions. 

 The Athi River bird is grayer on the interscapulum, and has the 

 yellow of the under parts paler and less extensive, this color not 

 reaching the lower breast. These differences may be due to imma- 

 turity in our specimen . 



212. Sitagra ocularia abayensis Neumann. 



Journal fur Ornithologie, 1905, p. 339. Lake Abaya, southern 

 Abyssinia. 



d\ Sept., Mt. Kenya. 



This bird has been compared with another of the same sex from 

 Taveita,* British East Africa, and differs from it in being generally 

 darker. The Taveita specimen has the tail decidedly brown above 

 and the breast and sides are yellow, while this from Kenya has the 

 tail and sides olive-green, the yellow of the under parts being con- 

 fined to a strip down the middle of the breast. Now the differences 

 here indicated are in accordance, partially at least, with Neumann's 

 diagnoses of his new subspecies abayensis and suahelicus, and the 

 former name seems to be applicable to this specimen, while the latter 

 will probably apply to the one from Taveita. 



* No. 118297 U. S. National Museum. 



