146 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIOISrAL MUSEUM 



Soft parts: (Male) iris, grayish white, finelj^ dotted with brown 

 next to the pupil ; bill, mainly flesh color, horn color at the tip of 

 the maxilla, pale brown at the base of the maxilla, and brownish 

 black subterminally above; bare tibiae and feet, flesh color, tinged 

 with gray on the feet ; claws, pale brown. 



The nomenclature of the two races of the white-bellied knorhaan 

 has been much upset due to the fact that the type of the southern 

 form canicoUis came from the northern part of its range, near where 

 somaliensis occurs, and various authors have come to different con- 

 clusions as to which race was the typical one. Erlanger ^^ first noted 

 that there were two races, a northern, rufescent one, and a southern, 

 paler form. He correctly ascribed the type of canicoUis (Berdera, 

 east of Juba Kiver) to the southern bird and named the northern one 

 somaliensis. Reichenow "® then wrote that the type of canicoUis 

 belonged to the northern form and that consequently somaliensis was 

 a synonym. He then named the southern birds erlangeri (Machakos, 

 Kenya Colony to Iringa, IJliehe district, Tanganyika Territory). 

 Neumann ^° corrected Reichenow's error and showed that erlangeri 

 was a synonym of canicoUis^ while S07naliensis was distinct. Still the 

 names continued to be shifted around, as Lonnberg ^^ overlooked 

 Neumann's paper and called a northern bird (from Luazomela River, 

 Kenya Colony) canicoUis. In 1914 Zedlitz ^^ reviewed the nomencla- 

 ture of this bustard and once more straightened it out. Sclater ^^ 

 following Zedlitz, has correctly stated the forms, and it is to be hoped 

 that workers from now on will use Sclater's list as a guide in this 

 connection. 



Part of the confusion that has existed about these races is due 

 to the fact that Berdera was mistaken for Berbera, a locality nearly 

 600 miles to the north of the former. 



In Ethiopia, somaliensis is known to occur in the Tigre, Danakil, 

 Hawash, Harrar, Galla, Arussi, and Shoa districts. In Kenya Colony 

 it ranges throughout the drier inland districts south to the Lekiundu, 

 Guaso Nyiro, Luazomela, and Amala Rivers, while typical cani- 

 coUis occurs in the southern and coastal parts. In Somaliland the 

 northern form appears to range throughout from Eritrea to southern 

 Italian Somaliland. 



The plumage of the adult female seems to be poorly known. 

 Reichenow ^* raises the question as to whether the sexes are alike or 

 if adult females are like young birds. Zedlitz ^- writes that the 



=8Journ. f. Ornith., 1905, p. 84. 



=»V6g. Afilkas, vol. 3, Nacbtrag, p. 802. 



«'.Iourn. f. Ornith., 1907, p. 307. 



^ Kuugl. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handlgr., vol. 47, 1911, p. 39. 



^Journ. f. Ornith., vol. C2, pp. G33-G34. 



»" Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 114. 



" Vog. Afrikas, vol. 1, p. 250. 



