134 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Soft parts : Middle of chin, wattles, sides of face, and nape blue ; 

 neck and throat, slate color ; helmet, brown, tipped with horn color ; 

 bill, greenish horn color; feet and claws, olivaceous black (in male) ; 

 feet, grayish black, the scales edged with horn color, the claws, black- 

 ish, widely tipped with horn color (in female). 



A great deal of variation occurs in the spotting of the inner webs 

 of the primaries. A large series of birds of different ages may show 

 this to be an index of age, a point worth investigating. 



This race is larger than the typical form. The four males have 

 wing lengths as follows: 275, 285, 290, and 300 millimeters, respec- 

 tively. The female lias a wing 272 millimeters in length. The nasal 

 bristles vary to lesser extent than in mcleagris^ the maximum devel- 

 opment being less in the present race ; the minimum the same in both. 

 Erlanger's ^° form neumanm., which is the same as inajor^ is said by 

 its describer to have the wattles tipped with reddish as in somaliensis. 

 That this character variation is without geographic significance is 

 shown by one of the males from the east shore of Lake Abaya in the 

 present collection. This bird (U.S.N.M. No. 243167) has the wattles 

 narrowly tipped with red, although the other male from the same 

 place has them entirely blue. 



At Gato River near Gardula, Mearns found a number of nests 

 with eggs of this guinea fowl, as follows : 



April 21, a set of six eggs brought in by a Galla. 



April 25, a set of seven eggs, all fresh. 



May 1, a set of two eggs, rather dark in color. 



May 1, a set of 10 eggs, slightly incubated. 



May 3, a set of eight eggs. 



May 6, a set of nine eggs brought in by a Galla. 



May 12, three sets as follows : 



Set of 14 eggs, measuring from 63.5 by 42.5 to 51 by 40 millimeters. 

 The largest clutch seen. The eggs are large, rather pale and not 

 much pigmented. Incubation was advanced as they contained large 

 embryos. 



Set of nine eggs, 52 by 40 and 54 by 38.2 to 53 by 37.5 millimeter.s. 

 Medium sized eggs, rather pointed at the lesser end. Uniformly 

 covered with small faint pigment blotchfes, something like turkey 

 eggs. Contained large embryos. 



Set of 13 eggs, 49.5 by 39 to 54 by 39 millimeters. These eggs 

 have a rather deep brown color, are thickly covered with small 

 pigment spots, and are deeply indented. They contained large 

 embryos. 



In his field notebook Mearns made the following entry, written 

 at Bodessa, about this bird : 



».Tourn. f. Ornith., 1905. p. 138. 



