( 499 ) 



coll. " Iris pale grey-brown ; feet (dark) bluish grey, soles yellowish ; bill — above 

 dull brown, below dull whitish horn-colour." 



1 ? immat., Escarpment, 8500 ft , Jannary 1901. W. Doherty coll. 



On Ploceus aureoflavus, bojeri, and holoxanthus. 



These three forms have been correctly separated in Shelley's book, while 

 Reichenow united holoxanthus with aureoflavus. 



The adult male of Ploceus bojeri has the back olive-yellow, the crown bright 

 golden-orange, the underside rich golden-yellow, the throat surrounded by a bright 

 chestnut band. The remiges are pale olive-brown, only the basal portion of the 

 inner webs being yellow. The wings measure about 75 to 76 mm. 



The adult male of Ploceus aureoflavus has the back more greenish, the crown 

 and throat much more yellow, the underside less bright, the wings similar, but 

 more greenish above, and the yellow more sulphur-yellow. The wing is about 

 76 mm. long. 



Ploceus holoxanthus is not at all the same as aureoflavus. Its wing is 

 considerably shorter, measuring only 65 to G9 mm., the tail is canary-yellow and 

 shorter, measuring only 4-5 instead of 5 cm., the back is almost pure yellow, the 

 remiges are quite canary-yellow, only the secondaries being washed with olive 

 on the outer webs ! 



One must feel inclined to think that these forms and also castaneiceps are 

 geographical forms (subspecies) of one species. The distribution is, however, not 

 quite clear : 



P. aureoflavus is the bird inhabiting Zanzibar, the lower Pangani River, and 

 ranges probably northwards close to Mombasa. This form, however, occurs also 

 northwards in South Somaliland, for specimens from Mogadoxo in Sonth Somaliland 

 agree with aureoflavus and not with bojeri ! These examples were collected by 

 Revoil, and there are some in the Paris Museum and one in Tring, the latter 

 purchased from Boucard. 



On Mombasa Island we find the bright P. bojeri. This, according to 

 Reichenow and Neumann (in litt.) extends northwards through Tanaland and Witn 

 to the Lower Djuba River, on the frontier of Somaliland. Th« alleged occurrence 

 on the island of Zanzibar is probably erroneous. The type was obtained by Bojer, 

 but, though said to have come from Zanzibar, might have been shot on the 

 opposite coast, the name Zanzibar coast, or merely Zanzibar, being for many 

 years used for the opposite coast, which was under the rule of the Zanzibar 

 sultans, and it is only recently that the name has again been reserved, as it should 

 be, to the island of Zanzibar. No specimens from v. d. Decken and Fischer seem 

 to be in collections, if I am not mistaken, and observations of live birds might 

 be erroneous. Therefore, if it were not for the occurrence of aureoflavus at Mogadoxo 

 in Southern Somaliland — while bojeri ranges north to the Lower Djuba River — we 

 might well accept that P. bojeri and aureoflavus are representatives. The same 

 may be said of holoxanthus (of which the type is in the Tring Museum), which 

 appears to be only known from Mtoni, and of castaneiceps ; this last form was first 

 described by Sharpe in 1890 from the Useri River in Teita (Taweta). Judging 

 from the short description, Reichenow considered castaneiceps to be a synonym 

 of aureoflavus, and redescribed it in 1902 under the name of Ploceus schilliiu/si 

 from the Rufn River (Upper Pangani), giving a good description in Vog. Ajr. iii. 

 p. 03. 



