204 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



darkest and palest birds both come from the same locality, Hawash 

 Eiver. Even the spotting of the throat is variable; the male from 

 Bilan has the spotting extending right across, one from the Hawash 

 River has it nearly continuous across the throat, while the others 

 have the spots confined to the sides. The width of the black, ab- 

 dominal bars, the intensity of the yellow on the wing-coverts, in fact, 

 every part of the plumage, varies. The only reasons why I refrain 

 from " lumping " dbessintcus are, first, that I have seen no typical 

 lichtensteinii, and second, that it would be difficult to decide what 

 percentage of ahessinicus are more like lichtensteinii than like 

 hyperyth7'us. The females are as variable as the males. 



The male from Sagon River, June 5, was molting the remiges, 

 the three outermost ones being old, the rest new. The outermost 

 new remex is about two-thirds grown in the right wing and some- 

 what more advanced in the left wing. The wing molt apparently is 

 very gradual and probably does not impair the flight of the bird to 

 any appreciable extent. 



The males examined are larger than the females, the wing lengths 

 being as follows: Males, lTT-186.5 females, 168.5-173.5 millimeters. 

 However, Grant ^^ gives the following : Males, 175-186 ; females, 169- 

 186 millimeters — figures which indicate that females attain the same 

 maximum size as males. Similar data are presented by Hartert.** 



In general coloration the Sagon River bird is nearer to hypei^ytki^s 

 than any of the others, a fact quite in keeping with the geographical 

 source of the specimen. Ten birds were seen on the Sagon River, 

 only one of which was collected. 



The female collected at Iron Bridge, Hawash River, had mimosa 

 beans in its crop. In his notes written while on the Hawash River, 

 Mearns says that this bird, " * * * feeds on flat seeds of a 

 thorny legume. Found at Bilan, and thence toward the entire 

 traversed portion of the Hawash, it was quite common in mimosa 

 scrub. It likes rocks. Utters loud note when taking flight." 



EREMIALECTOR LICHTENSTEINII HYPERYTHRUS (Erianger) 



Pterocles lichtensteinii hyperythrus Ekiangek, Journ. f. Ornitb., 1905, p. 94, 

 pi. 4, fig. 2 : Daoua River, southern Sonialiland. 



/Specime7is collected: 



Male, 18 miles southwest of Hor, Kenya Colony, July 1, 1912. 



This specimen agrees with the characters of this race, but is un- 

 usual in that the entire throat is spotted with black. 



It is molting the remiges; only the two outermost primaries of 

 the old plumage are still present; the rest are new. The feathers of 



s' Ibis, 1915, p. 33. 



** V6g. pal. Fauna, p. 1512. 



