34 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The single specimen collected agrees with Neumann's description 

 of this race and with three specimens from Kavirondo Gulf, Kenya 

 Colony. It measures as follows: Wing, 389; tail, 175; culmen 

 (chord), 156 millimeters. Although in general it may be true that 

 the bill in this race is longer than in its southern neighbor erlangeri, 

 some specimens of the latter form are considerably larger than 

 average specimens of the former. Neumann has pointed out that 

 birds from Lake Nyasa and the Uhehe country have much longer 

 bills than typical erlangeri to which form they belong on geographic 

 grounds. A specimen from Kipera, near Kilosa, Tanganyika Terri- 

 tory, in the Museum of Comparative Zoology agrees with the Uhehe 

 measurements. However, these birds may be intermediate between 

 erlangeri and nilotica. Sclater *^ seems to have sensed the inter- 

 mediate character of these birds when he gave the range of nilotica 

 as " * * * south to Uganda and perhaps to the country north of 

 Lake Nyasa." 



Specimens of this ibis from the Kavirondo Gulf region of Kenya 

 Colony and of eastern Uganda are not typical nilotica as they are 

 lighter on the underparts than Ethiopian birds. This is to be 

 expected, however, where nilotica and erlangeri come together. In 

 fact, while Van Someren ^'^ records nilotica from Masindi and En- 

 tebbe, Uganda, he writes that he has provisionally recognized this 

 race but is unable to appreciate the differences between these birds 

 and east African specimens. Typical erlangeri he records from Lake 

 Jipe, Tanganyika Territory, and Naivasha, Kenya Colony. As far 

 as I know, nilotica is known in Kenya Colony only from the Kavi- 

 rondo Gulf region but it undoubtedly occurs northward to Turkana- 

 land, although not definitely recorded from there, Granvik *' found 

 it common at Kendu in the Kavirondo country. 



The material at hand (19 specimens) supports Neumaim's conclu- 

 sions and represents all four races of this ibis. The characters 

 used in the diagnoses of the subspecies are the length of the culmen 

 and the intensity of the coloration; that is, darkness and lightness. 

 Reichenow '^^ has studied the abundant material in Berlin and re- 

 ports it difficult to tell the races apart, as the length of the culmen 

 varies with age and sex and because the color, particularly of the 

 underparts, also varies to some extent. Granvik *^ notes that of two 

 specimens shot by him on the same day at Kendu, one, a male, is 

 dark gray, and the other, a female, is light grayish brown. All 

 this only means that, in making comparisons, adult birds should 



«Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 36. 



<«Nov. Zool., vol. 29, 1922, p. 8. 



"Journ. f. Ornith., 3 923, Sonderheft, pp. 43-44. 



"Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 1910-11, p. 74. 



rejourn, f. Ornith., 1923, Soudorheft, p. 44. 



