BIEDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 81 



Just how long a time is required to assume adult plumage is not 

 definitely known, but it seems to be acquired in the second year. A 

 male of sparshnfasciatus in the Museum of Comparative Zoology has 

 the adult plumage well developed, but still retains some of the im- 

 mature feathers. It has upper wing coverts like those of the imma- 

 ture birds, and possesses some very heavily banded or barred flank 

 feathers like those found in the juvenal plumage, contrasting strik- 

 ingly with the finely barred feathers of the rest of the underparts. 



The present subspecies occurs in the high mountainous regions of 

 Ethiopia. Neumann ^^ gives its altitudinal range as between the 

 levels of 2,000 and 3,200 meters (6,600 to 10,500 feet). He writes 

 that it does not live in the valleys where it is replaced by Astur 

 badius sphenurus. Erlanger ^'^ procured a single specimen at Solole, 

 southern Somaliland, which he referred to typical tachiro. This is 

 obviously wrong, but there is some doubt as to whether his bird is 

 unduliventer or sparshnfasciatus. He suggests that it is like tropical 

 east African birds, which seems quite likely judging from geography, 

 in which case it would have to be refered to sparsiinfasciatus. It is 

 doubtful if the mountain race unduliventer occurs in the Bardera 

 area. 



MELIERAX MUSICUS POLIOPTERUS Cabanis 



Melicrax poUoidcrus Cabanis, Journ. f. Orn., 1868, p. 413 : Umba River on the 

 Kenj-a-Tanganyika boundary. 



Speciniens collected: 



"Male,"' Dire Daoua, Ethiopia, December 4, 1911. 

 Female, Bodessa, Ethiopia, June 1, 1912. 

 Male, immature, Le-se-dun, Kenya Colony, July 26, 1912. 

 Male, Tharaka District, 2,000 feet (600 meters), Kenya Colony, 

 August 14, 1912. 



The colors of the soft parts of the female are recorded as follows : 

 Iris, hazel; cere and basal half of mandible, yellow; maxilla and 

 distal half of mandible, black ; feet, orange red ; claws, black. This 

 specimen had its crop filled with guinea hen meat — no bones or 

 feathers. 



As has been shown by Lort Phillips, Swann, and others, Neumann's 

 race somaliensis is not valid. It is said to have the crown as light as 

 the nape, but some Somaliland birds have the head as dark as in 

 polioptei'us. 



A specimen in the Museum of Comparative Zoology from British 

 Somaliland (Lort Phillips' coll.) agrees with polio pterus, having 

 the crown much darker than the nape. The four birds collected by 



^ Journ. f. Ornith., 1904, p. 360. 

 "ildem, 1904, p. 168. 



