120 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



In its general habits this race appears to be similar to castaneicolUs, 

 but very little is known of either. On the whole, its range is alti- 

 tudinally lower than that of the nominate race. The breeding season 

 is in January, as Neumann ''^ found a clutch of five eggs at Gardula 

 on January 13. 



FRANCOLINUS SQUAMATUS MARANENSIS Mearns 



Fraiicoliims scJmetti maranensis Meaens, Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. 56, No. 14, 

 p. 1, 1910 : Maranu, Kilimanjaro, 5,000 feet. 



Specimens collected: 



Male and female, escarpment, 7,390 feet, Kenya Colony, Septem- 

 ber 7, 1912. 



The races 7narane7iMS, kapitensis, and keniensis are" all one and the 

 same, the alleged differences being due to age, sex, and wear. The 

 first name, having page priority over the other two, stands, and the 

 others become synonyms. 



Lonnberg ^^ also made a critical study of these birds and was un- 

 able to uphold Mearns' races. 



This francolin is very variable, the underparts becoming more 

 uniform with age. C. H. B. Grant '''^ writes that females average 

 lighter below than males, but this is not always the case. Van 

 Someren '° writes that his series does not bear this out. It is true 

 that the female collected by Mearns is much lighter below than is 

 the male, but the other specimens examined indicate that this differ- 

 ence is due more to age than to sex. 



Mackworth-Praed "^ writes there are four races of this species in 

 Kenya Colony — zappeyL in Kavirondo; dowashanus, south of Loita 

 Plains to the Tanganyika border; inaranensis, Kilimanjaro to Mount 

 Kenia, Solai. and the Aberdare Mountains; and a race for which 

 there is no name, referred to b}^ him as " subsp. 2," apparently con- 

 fined to high ground — Mau, Ravine, Laikipia, etc. On geographic 

 grounds Mearns' two birds should belong to this race, which is said 

 to be similar to zappeyi but larger. The female is contrasting enough 

 in its ventral coloration to match specimens of zappeyi but the male 

 certainly is not. Furthermore the birds have wings of 182 and 186 

 millimeters, respectively, while the highland form is said to have 

 wing lengths of from 192 to 198 millimeters. Granvik '- apparently 

 had birds like these two, and reached the same conclusions as myself. 



•"Journ. f. Ornlth., 1906, p. 299. 



««Arkiv f. Zool., vol. 9, No. 14. 1915, pp. 1-22. 



»» Ibis, 1915, p. 19. 



TO Nov. Zool., vol. 29, 1922, p. 27. 



"Ibis, 1922. p. 133. 



"Journ. f. Ornith., 1923, Sonderheft, pp. 59-GO. 



