BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 229 



pale bluish gray in the former and pure white in the latter. Later ^^ 

 he further diagnosed it and wrote that the vinaceous tone of the 

 throat and breast is more distinct in arahlca than in roseogi^sea. 

 Zedlitz ^" collected several specimens in Dahlak Island and found 

 that the only real difference between the two forms of this pigeon was 

 the color of the under wing coverts, and that in other respects the 

 differences were inconstant and purely individual. The question of 

 color differences was again raised when Sclater and Praed *^ com- 

 pared a single specimen of roseogrhea from Khartoum with a lone 

 example of ardbica from Khor Arbat, and found the most noticeable 

 differences between them to be the greater amount of the vinous 

 flush on the throat and breast, and the narrower ring of black around 

 the neck of arahica. However, they record that specimens from 

 Jedda, Arabia, and Salomona, Eritrea, have grayer under wing 

 coverts than birds from Shendi and Khartoum on the Nile. 



The material available for the present study is small — 1 bird from 

 Aden, Arabia — practically topotypical ardbica^ the specimen listed 

 above from Dire Daoua, Ethiopia, and 1 from 10 miles south of Jebe- 

 lein, White Nile, Sudan. The latter is of the typical race, the bird 

 from Dire Daoua is clearly referable to ardbica. These three speci- 

 mens agree with Neumann's and Sclater's conclusions as to the color 

 of the breast and throat. However, the example from Aden has a 

 wider, not narrower, black neckband than either of the other two. 



The distribution of this bird lies largely to the north of our re- 

 gion, although the Aden Protectorate is latitudinally similar to the 

 Tigre and Amliara districts of Ethiopia. The real reason why the 

 bird is scarce or absent in the latter country is ecological. It is es- 

 sentially a lowland bird of semiarid country. Elliot procured a 

 specimen as far south as Hullier, northern Somaliland, and Blan- 

 ford ^'- writing of this bird under the name T . alhiventris G. K. Gray, 

 writes that this species is the common dove of the coastal districts of 

 Eritrea. The typical race, which ranges westward across the Sudan 

 to Lake Chad and Northern Nigeria, is likewise a bird of semiarid 

 country. Thus, Bannerman and Bates *^ list three species of Strepto- 

 pelia {lugens hypopyrrhus, declpiens shelleyi, and roseogrisea roseo- 

 grised) from Cameroon and northern Nigeria, and write that of, 

 '• * * * the three species of StreptopeUa obtained in this region 

 * * * the present one seems to have the most northerly range near- 

 est the desert ; it is noteworthy that this is also the palest form." 



="'0rn. Monatsb., 1904, p. 83. 

 ^"Joiuu. f. Ornith., 1910, pp. 345-346. 

 "Ibis, 1920, p. 831. 

 " Geol. and Zool. Abyss., 1870, p. 417. 

 " Ibis, 1924, p. 207. 



