2 ARKIV FÖR ZOOLOGI. BAND 10. N:0 24. 



All these localities are situated within the zoogeograph- 

 ical district which Reichenovv bas called »das Mittelafrika- 

 nische Seengebiet>>. 



In his very valuable revicw »Die Vogelfauna des Mittel- 

 afrikaiiiscben Seengebietes» Reichenow records tbe number 

 of species of birds known from tbis zoog^ograpbical district 

 to be abouth 750. Captain E. Arrhenius bas tbus collected 

 about orie fourtb of tbis iiumber, bnt a few species in his 

 collection ha ve not been recorded from the Lake district 

 before, and one or Iwo are quite new. 



It is evident that a sportsman in collecting birds in the 

 first rank secures the larger and raore striking looking birds. 

 and they form also the majority of tbis collection. But just 

 among them are also some geographical novelties for the 

 district as f. i. Pelecanus onocrotalns, Herodias hrachyrhyncha etc. 



14 species in Capt. Arrhenius' collection are migratory 

 birds, while some fifty of tbis category are known from the 

 district. 



58 species in the collection, or 31,5 % of the total 

 number, have a very wide distribution över the whole, or 

 the greater part of the continent. More than half of tbis 

 number (about 34) consists of water-loving birds which are 

 less restricted by zoogcographical limits, if only the water, 

 which for them is the essential condition of life, is present. 

 8 more species are birds of prey, 4 are döves, 6 are cuckoos 

 and so on. As only about 100 species of birds with such 

 distribution are known from the district tbis group is very 

 well represented. 



About 22 species in the collection may be termed pro- 

 perly belonging to the East-African region, and about just 

 as many or 21 extend över East and South Africa. These 

 species belong to the steppe country and find suitable con- 

 ditions of life in such types of landscape which belong to 

 tbis viz. grassy plains without or with scattered acacias, 

 eventually bush and small clumps of forests, or gallerj^ 

 forests fringing small rivers or marshes. Reichenow bas 

 recorded about 100 of the former and about 70 of the latter 

 group. About 3 or 4 more species of the collection extend 

 through equatorial Africa from East to West, while 5 or 6 

 other species have more North Eastern or Northern (Sudan- 

 ese, affinities. Reichenow estimates the number of North 

 Eastern birds in the Lake district to about 20. 



