1905.1 NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 755 



ON A COLLECTION OF BIRDS FROM BRITISH EAST AFRICA OBTAINED BY 

 MR. GEORGE L. HARRISON, JR. 



BY WITMER STONE. 



The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia has recently 

 received on deposit from Mr. George L. Harrison, Jr., a collection of 

 birds obtained by him on his travels through Central East Africa in 

 1904. Through the courtesy of Mr. Harrison and the Academy I 

 have had the privilege of studying this collection and of preparing a 

 report upon it. 



^^^lile only one of the species represented proves to be new to science, 

 the collection illustrates many interesting points in connection with 

 seasonal and sexual plumages. The specimens are beautifully pre- 

 pared, and this fact, together with the fullness of the data which accom- 

 pany them, renders the collection exceptionally valuable. 



Mr. Harrison has favored me with the following outline of his route : 

 "We left Nairobi on May 16, 1904, and arrived at Fort Hall on May 

 30, spending a few days there. From Fort Hall I took a trip down 

 the Tana river, and should have made a much better collection but 

 for the fact that both Camburn, my taxidermist, and myself suffered 

 very severely with fever, and were laid up for some weeks. I got 

 back to Fort Hall on July 9 and sent Camburn in from there to Nairobi. 

 In the meantime I took a trip and met him at Naivasha on August 24. 

 We then started along the Morandat river to El Bolossa swamp, thence 

 to Pesi swamp and along the Guaso Nyiro, until well north of Mount 

 Kenia. I then sent Camburn back over the Abed are range, which 

 he crossed at an altitude of about 10,500 feet, while I got back to 

 Nairobi on November 4." 



On account of the lack of adequate material for comparison I have, 

 as a rule, made no attempt to indicate subspecific relationship, although 

 a number of forms here recognized certainly intergrade with others 

 whose ranges they adjoin. In the sequence of families and genera I 

 have followed Dr. Bowdler Sharpe's classification. 



PHASIANID^. 

 1. Francolinus sohuetti Cab. 



Francolinvs (Scleropiera) schvetti Cab., J .F . O.,18S0, p. 351. [Lunda,iKongo.] 

 A pair from the Thika river, May 25 and 26. "Trades hazel, orbits 

 and ears ochraceous, bill and feet coral red." 



