BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 205 



the abdomen are also molting to a small degree as well as those of the 

 lower back and rump. 



Apparently the present specimen constitutes one of the northern- 

 most records for this race in Kenya Colony. Van Someren ^^ records 

 it from Karoli, a place not far from Hor. 



The single bird collected is paler than a male of sukensis from 

 Guaso Nyiro. It has a wing length of 179 millimeters. It was seen 

 together with about 30 others. At Lake Eudolf, July 5-8, four 

 more Avere noted. 



On June 25. at Er-re-re, a female was flushed from its nest, a slight cavity 

 in loamy soil in a patch of .vcant viney weeds on a low ridge of plain bordering 

 the Ballal River near Upper Chaffa village. There was no true nest, that is, 

 the cavity was unlined, containing no nesting materials whatsoever. It had 

 three eggs, equally rounded at the two ends, ground color, pale olive, thickly 

 and quite evenly blotched or marbled with olive brown (superficial) and 

 purplish gray underlying markings. Incubation was advanced. 



Another set of two eggs was found IS miles southwest of Hor, July 2. One 

 egg was badly cracked. Ground color of both was clay color, quite evenly 

 spotted all over with reddish brown (superficial) and purplish gray (under- 

 lying). Largest spots 2 millimeters, smallest, mere dots. (E. A. Mearus.) 



On the Guaso Nyiro River, July 31 to August 3, Mearns saw two 

 birds, and at Lekiundu Eiver, August 4-8, six more. Judging by 

 the localities these two records (unfortunately only sight records) 

 would appear to be E. I. sukensis. 



Family COLUMBIDAE 



COLUMBA ALBITORQUES Rupp«U 



Columba ulhitorques Rtjppell, N. Wirbelth., Vog., p. 63, pi. 22, fig. 1, 1837: 

 Abyssinian highlands. 



Specimens collected: 



Male and female, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia, December 31, 1911. 



Female, Serri, Ethiopia, February 14, 1912. 



Male, Arussi Plateau, 9,000 feet, Ethiopia, February 29, 1912. 



Reichenbach ^'^ proposed a subgenus Taenioenas for this species on 

 the basis of the short bill and the white band on the nape. The first 

 character is not as distinctive as it might seem, as other species of 

 Columba (such as arquatrix and guinea) have bills proportionately 

 little larger, and the second is purely a specific color mark. I can see 

 no reason for recognizing Taenioenas as a valid subgenus. In this 

 connection it is interesting to note that Blanford ^^ writes that this 

 bird, " * * * is somewhat intermediate in its characters between 



^ Journ. E. Afr. and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, No. 29, April, 1927. 

 ^iNaturl. Syst. Vggel, p. xxv (185:5) ; Naturgesch. Tauben, p. 59 (1862). 

 «'Geol. and Zool. Abyss., 1870, p. 41G. 



