BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 267 



Minor) were slightly larger than Avestern examples (Spain, Morocco, 

 West Africa, etc.), but the differences were too slight to warrant 

 taxonomic status. Eastern breeding birds range from 186-224 milli- 

 meters (wing length) in the males, from 185-211 millimeters in fe- 

 males; while western ones vary from 199-211 millimeters in males, 

 and 193-199 in females. Mediterranean birds are intermediate in 

 size. It is clear that subspecies can not be maintained on the basis of 

 size characters in this case. 



In Africa the great spotted cuckoo is definitely known to breed 

 only south of the Zambesi, but it is highly likely that it does so else- 

 where as well. Thus, Van Someren ^^ writes of this bird in Kenya 

 Colony that, " * * * December birds were very fat, pointing 

 rather to the fact that they were migrants from the north. May 

 birds were in breeding condition, while the young shot 9. v. 1917 still 

 has a soft bill. These lay regularly in East Africa * * *. There 

 is doubtless a resident bird in East Africa, but whether or not it is 

 the same as the European bird remains to be proved." Sclater and 

 Praed ^"^ record specimens from the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in Janu- 

 ary, March, May, June, and July, and conclude that from these 

 dates, " * * * it appears * * * j^q^ unlikely that the great 

 spotted cuckoo breeds in the Sudan, as it certainly does in South 

 Africa * * *." Perhaps the most direct evidence of the breeding 

 of this cuckoo in northeastern Africa is that brought forth by Von 

 Heuglin,*^ who observed the birds pairing in the spring (February 

 and March) in the Sudan and Upper Egypt. Taylor and Brehm 

 procured young as early as February and March in the same region, 

 and Von Heuglin found a fresh egg, ostensibly of this cuckoo, on 

 the ground in April near Saquara. Raw ^® records eggs from Luxor, 

 Egypt, on March 22, and one from Abu Zabaal as late as June 6. 



It is true that the South African breeding birds wander north for 

 the southern winter, so that the field study of this species in tropical 

 Africa is complicated by the coincidental presence of resident, breed- 

 ing and migratory, nonbreeding birds. There can be no possible 

 ground for the old belief that the European birds were double breed- 

 ers, laying in Europe in June and in Africa in December and Janu- 

 ary, as was suggested by C. H. B. Grant.*^ 



Lynes ^^ found none of these cuckoos breeding in Darfur, but 

 observed a marked migration of birds from the south chiefly in June 

 and July, but extending from May to August. Entirely on circum- 

 stantial evidence he felt that this summer passage was composed of 



^sjbis, 1015, p. 410. 



*sNov. Zool.. vol. 29, 1022, p. 51. 



"Ibis, 1919, p. 641. 



*' Quoted by Koichenow, Vog. Afr., vol. 2, 1902, pp. 82-83. 



^^ Ibis, 1921, p. 3G1. 



*»I<lem, 1925, p. 353. 



