BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 75 



distinct species; the northeastern intermedms is not recognizable, 

 having no well-defined characters. 



A. interviedius was described as having lighter upper parts than 

 tninullus. Lonnberg ^"^ writes of a specimen of intermedlus from 

 Nairobi that, " * * * it is as dark on the back as South African 

 specimens * * *. The sides of the head are, however, much 

 lighter than the crown, and that might be a better characteristic 

 than the general color of the back, if it should be possible to main- 

 tain this subspecies." According to Swann ^^ intermedius is sup- 

 posed to have the sides paler, the bars on the underparts darker and 

 broader. I find none of these characters to hold, and can come to 

 no other conclusion than that the race is not valid. 



The western erythro'pus is a bird of the west African rain forests, 

 whereas tninullus is a bird of the savannas. The form sassii Strese- 

 mann, if valid, is a race of einjthro'pus. 



There is a great amount of variation in the young of tninullus, 

 some birds being abundantly flecked or spotted on the breast, others 

 only sparsely marked; in some the spots are round and very large, 

 in others, small and narrow, so as to appear almost streaked; some 

 have the ground color of the underparts pure white, while others 

 have it pale tawnj^- It may be that subspecies of this hawk may be 

 recognized by the character of the juvenal plumage, if such a practice 

 be feasible, but I should hesitate to do so. It must be admitted, 

 however, that many of the European investigators who recognized 

 interrnedius and tropicalis had larger series to work with than I, but 

 still I can not agree with their conclusions without seeing their 

 material. 



According to Erlanger "^^ the breeding season (of what he calls 

 tropicalis) in southern Ginir is in April, as he found a nest with 

 three eggs on April 6. 



ACCIPITER RUFIVENTRIS PERSPICILLARIS (Ruppell) 



1836 : Gondar, Ethiopia. 



Falco (Astur) perspicciUaris RiJppEi.L, N, Wirbelth., Vog., p. 41, pi. 18, fig. 2, 



Specimens collected: 



Male, Arussi Plateau (10,500 feet), Ethiopia, February 27, 1912. 



The northeastern form perspicillaris to which the present specimen 

 belongs is said to be much darker below than typical rufiventrls. 

 Erlanger ^^ and Neumann ^^ found the characters of this race to hold 



s^Kungl. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handlngr., 1911, p. 56. 

 *2 Synopsis of Accipitrofi, 1922, p. 54. 

 "Journ. f. Ornith., 1904, p. 177. 

 «5I(lem, 1904, pp. 172-173. 

 ««Idem, 1904, p. 361. 



