BIKDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 133 



NUMIDA MELEAGRIS MELEAGRIS (Linnaeus) 



Phasianus mclcagrls Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 158, 1758: Africa, 

 i. e. Nubia, Upper Nile, ex. Hasselquist. 



Specimens collected: 



Female, near Tollo, Ethiopia, December 15, 1911. 



Male. Moiilu, Ethiopia, December 16, 1911. 



As in all the races, the present one shows great variation in the 

 form of the helmet. The Moulu bird has it decurved and narrow, 

 another male from Eritrea has it more or less vertical (the front 

 slope about 45°, the rear one practically 90°) but the tip is slightly 

 recurved. The nasal bristles also vary, being much better developed 

 in the Tollo female than in the male from Moulu, or than in birds 

 from Eritrea, the Blue Nile, and Gondar (20 miles north of Lake 

 Tsana). The bird from Gondar shows an interesting plumage vari- 

 ation; the feathers of the middle and lower back have the white 

 spots extremely narrow, and appear vermiculated rather than spot- 

 ted. The spots become distinct again on the rump, but even there, 

 and on the mantle as well, they are smaller, less rounded, more 

 elongate in a direction transverse to the feathers, than in the other 

 five specimens examined. 



The series studied is too small to give an adequate picture of the 

 size variations of meleagris. Three males have wings of 252, 282, 

 and 285 millimeters, respectively, while three females (one doubt- 

 fully sexed) present the following measurements: 241, 260, and 270 

 millimeters. 



Mearns made no record of the colors of the soft parts, but Maj. 

 R. E. Cheesman wrote on the label of the Gondar specimen (which 

 came to the Museum of Comparative Zoology from the Cheesman 

 collection) as follows: Wattle and skin below eye, azure blue. He 

 also noted, " * * * one flock had many half-grown chicks " at the 

 time of collection (October 30) which indicates that the breeding 

 season in northern Ethiopia is probably August and thereabouts. 



NUMIDA MELEAGRIS MAJOR Hartlaub 



Numida ptilorhi/ncha var. major Hartlaub, Abliandl. Bremen, 1882, pp. 21G, 

 217, 1883 : Wakkala, in tlie Bari country near Goiidokoro. 



Speciiiiens collected: 



Male, Gidabo River, Ethiopia, March 16, 1912. 



Two males, Lake Abaya (east), Ethiopia, March 19, 1912. 



Female, Bodessa, Ethiopia, May 22, 1912. 



Female, Bodessa, Ethiopia, June 1, 1912. 



Male, near Bodessa, Ethiopia, June 6, 1912. 



