jJoVITATEa ZOOLOGICAE XXII. 1915. It* 



Uutil quite receiitl}' the varioii.s form.s have not general!}' lieen under.stoml. 

 Even ten years ago so great an ornithologist as Mr. Dresser did not separate the 

 obviously different form fehlei/i/i from tuin/jiteriis and erUingeri. One can easiij' 

 understand that erlanyeri was not separated from taiii/pterua, as they are hardly 

 Reparable, though the former is certainly a little smaller, but the lumping of /J'/f/w/;// 

 with tani/pterus is incomprehensible ; that it has been practised so often, is evidently 

 only because the irwe. feldeggi is, in collections, a somewhat rare bird. 



If one examines a series of these various forms, it becomes evident that they 

 can only be regarded as subspecies of one species, though perhaps feldeqifi is the 

 most distinct of the five races, while hiannicus and eiiangeti are connected through 

 abgssinictis and tamjpterus. In all " Lanners " the first primary is abruptly scooped 

 out before the tip, and the second shows also a distinct, though not so sharp a 

 narrowing of the inner web, sometimes, especially in birds in imniaturc jiluinage, 

 quite indistinct. 



1. Falco biarmicus biarmicus Temm. 



Fidco bhirinicus Temmiiick, PI. Cul. 'iH, livr. 55 (1825— CafBraria and Cape Colony). 



Undoubted synonyms are chiqutroiden Smith 1830, cenvcalis Schlegel 1844, and nipe/isis 

 Schlegel 1862 ; cf. I'oV/. il. pul. Fannn, ii. p. 1057. 



Generally distinguished from its allies by the colorati(jn of the underside, 

 which is almost uniform and of a very rich hue, only the flanks showing a few black 

 spots or short bars. 



Inhabits South Africa, in the west, north to Angola ; in East Africa it appears 

 to go as far north as the Victoria Nyanza aud Lake Kivu, but the specimens from 

 these countries are exceedingly puzzling. Rudolf Graner shot an adult female at 

 Kissenyi, on the shores of Lake Kivu, on September 2o, 1907, and an adult male 

 in the Rutschuru plain, between Lakes Albert Edward and Kivu, on January 14, 

 1908 (Nos. 1840 and 1127 of his collection). Both have a perfectly unspotted 

 breast aud middle abdomen, but are cross-barred and spotted on the flanks, a little 

 more than in South African typical biarmicus. 



I should consider these two birds as belonging to F. biarmicus biarmicus, but 

 this form seems to merge into ahi/ssinicus in East Africa. At Irangi and on Lake 

 Victoria Nyanza specimens occur which, though perfectly adult, have black spots on 

 breast and abdomen, wliile others are like typical biarmicus (^enmanw, in litt., from 

 examinatiou of good series in Berlin Museum). 



2. Falco biarmicus abyssinicus Neum. 



Falco hianiurui (ihij>;^ttiicu>i Neumann, Juuni.f. Or/i. l'.M)4, p. i^GO (Abyssinia, Shoa, Galla countries). 

 Type, cJ ad. from Shoa (Turrabolonka in Kolla), 21. i.\. lOnO, collected by the author, in the 

 Tring Museum. 



This form has been well characterised by Neumann, in the Journ. f. Orn. 1904, 

 pp. 309-371 and 405-406. Its underside is more and more largely spotted than in 

 F. b. biarmicus, and this is the only difference from the latter ; it is therefore strange 

 that it has been united with F. b. tamjpterus, and not with biarmicus, though 

 Professor Reichenow allows both forms to be found in Abyssinia. From F. b. tany- 

 pterus this form differs by its more intense coloration ; the black frontal band is 

 always wide and undivided, the crown dark rufous with a cinnamon tinge, the 

 blackish colour of the upperside is deeper, darker, the under-snrface more reddish 

 than in F. b. tamjpterus, though occasionally difficult to distinguish. Measurements : 



