BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 23 



The Ethiopian specimen is darker above than the bird from 

 Gambia and has the yellowish stripes in the scapulars better devel- 

 oped. It is also considerably darker, grayer on the back than either 

 of the pair from Tanganyika Territory; in fact it has this part 

 almost as dark as immature specimens of Ardeola idae. 



Ardeola ralloides and Ardeola idae have been seriously confused 

 by students of African birds, and inasmuch as the ranges of the 

 two are not as distinct geographically as hitherto thought, it is all 

 the more important to know the differences between, them. In my 

 study of these birds I have been greatly aided by advice and sug- 

 gestions offered by Dr. J. P. Chapin, who, indeed, supplied the key 

 to the whole problem. It has long been known that the Madagascan 

 form idae occasionally occurs in continental Africa. In the imma- 

 ture and the adult nonbreeding plumages (of both sexes) idae is 

 much darker above than ralloides. A. idae breeds only in Madagas- 

 car, and occurs on the mainland of Africa only in young or 

 " winter " plumage as far as I know. Some recent writers ^^ have 

 considered idae and ralloides specifically distinct on account of the 

 continental records of the former. While I agree in considering 

 them species, the reason, as is shown below, is somewhat different. 



It is rather surprising how far inland the Madagascan bird does 

 wander. Van Someren ^^ procured specimens at Nairobi and Kijabe 

 in July and October. He comments that it is a rare bird in 

 those parts and rather remarkable so far from the Indian Ocean. 

 Granvik ^^ shot an adult male on the eastern slopes of Mount Elgon 

 in eastern Uganda at an altitude of 7,000 feet. This is by all odds 

 the farthest inland the race has been taken and the bird is undoubt- 

 edly an accidental straggler in the Elgon district. However, when 

 we consider the postnuptial wanderings of egrets and other herons 

 in the United States, the distances involved in the present case lose 

 much of their apparent magnitude. 



It is the Madagascan birds that are puzzling and that form the 

 center of the problem. It has always been supposed that all Mada- 

 gascan squacco herons were «6?ae, but a series of 21 birds collected on 

 that island by F. R. Wulsin clearly shows that both ralloides and 

 ida^ occur side by side there. Of his 21 specimens, only 6 are idae., 

 and 15 ralloides. Unfortunately, all the specimens of idae and all 

 but one of ralloides are either immature or in off-season plumage. 

 The six idae are very much darker above than any of the ralloides 



"Van Someren, Nov. ZoOl., vol. 29. 1922, p. 10, and Grauvik. Journ. f. Ornith., 1923, 

 Sonderheft, p. 46. 



=»Nov. Zool., vol. 29, 1922, p. 10. 



» Journ. f. Ornith., 1923, Sonderheft, p. 4G. 



