BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 187 



southern ones guJaris. Zedlitz *° showed that the type of vermlcuJa- 

 tus came from Lake Jipe, Kenya Colony, and not from Somaliland, 

 and, although birds from this region were considered the same as 

 southern ones by Erlanger, Zedlitz merely extended the southern 

 limits of 'verirdculatiiS to take in Lake Jipe (and therefore inci- 

 dentally all of Kenya Colony). However, the differences between 

 venniculatus and gularls are certainly not constant. In the series 

 assembled for the present study are birds of both plumage types 

 from the same localities. It is therefore unwarranted to separate 

 two races of the eastern form of 0. vermiculatus. It should be 

 mentioned, however, that I have seen no material from Somaliland 

 or Ethiopia. 



Besides the single bird collected, Mearns observed eight others at 

 Athi River, August 30 to September 1. 



Family GLAREOLIDAE 



RHINOPTILUS AFRICANUS RAFFERTYI Mearns 



Rhinoptil-ua africanus raife7-tyi Meabns, Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. 65, No. 13, 

 p. 7, 1915 : Iron Bridge, Hawash Valley, Ethiopia. 



Specimens collected : 



Male, (type) Iron Bridge, Hawash Valley, Ethiopia, February 4, 

 1912. 

 Male immature, Gabra Dulcha, Ethiopia, January 25, 1912. 



Sclater *'^ considers raffertyi as a probable synonym of hartingi. 

 In this he is mistaken as the former is much grayer above, blacker, 

 less cinnamon buffy on the crown than the latter. It is much less 

 reddish than the figure of hartingi in the Catalogue of Birds in the 

 British Museum *^ and than a specimen from Ahdeh, Somaliland (A. 

 Donaldson Smith collection) in the United States National Museum. 



This species has eight recognizable races with the following geo- 

 graphical ranges. 



1. R. a. afncanus. — Southwestern Africa east to the Karroo dis- 

 trict of the Cape Province, north through Namaqualand ; character- 

 ized by pinkish inner primaries, buffy white abdomen, and having 

 the throat finely and sparsely streaked. This and the next two races 

 are dark broAvn above. 



2. R. a. sharpei. — Ovampoland; similar to africanus but with the 

 abdomen whiter, less buffy, and the throat streaks even finer. 



"Journ. f. Oniitb., 1914, pp. 630-631. 

 *' Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 138. 

 «Vol. 24, 1896, pi. 2. 



