254 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the river valleys. According to Zedlitz the distribution of the bird 

 is the same as the area which usually receives winter rains, which, 

 in turn produce luxuriant vegetation in February and March when 

 the birds breed. Schrader and Beccari collected this plantain eater 

 at several localities in Eritrea (Ali Beret, Arba Schiko, Ghadi Saati, 

 Mareb, Torah, and Gurareba). To sum up all the above data, it 

 appears that Crinifer zonurus occurs in the parts of Eritrea and 

 Ethiopia that drain into the Nile system and extends eastward only 

 slightly into the Hawash basin. Southward, its range extends along 

 the Nile Valley through Uganda (east to Kavirondo, Kenya Colony) 

 south to northwestern Tanganyika Territory (Mwanza, Bukoba, 

 etc.), Ruanda, Urundi, and to the north end of Lake Tanganyika. 

 This species varies greatly in size as the following figures show: 



Locality 



Ethiopia, Hawash River. 

 Belgian Congo, Luvungi. 



Uganda, Kampala 



Kenya Colony, Kisii 



Tanganyika Territory: 



Kome, Mwanza 



Do 



Do 



Ukerewe 



Sclater^ considers zonurus as specifically distinct from west 

 African piscator, although the former is obviously a geographical 

 representative of the latter. It is, however, unusually well marked, 

 but the specimen from Ukerewe listed above is more or less inter- 

 mediate, having the entire underparts streaked as in piscafor but the 

 streaks very much lighter. The tail character, however, holds good, 

 being broadly banded with whitish in zonurus and not banded in 

 piscator, and it appears that the two may be considered species. 



Grote " has recently described a new form of piscator from the 

 eastern part of Neu Kamerun — ohscuratus, said to be darker above, 

 especially on the nape, than typical piscator. I have seen no 

 ohscuratus unless two birds from Sakbayeme, Cameroon, be referred 

 to that race. Grote compared his ohscuratus with specimens of 

 piscator from Togoland and found the differences which he used 

 as the basis of his description. The two Sakbayeme birds are quite 

 indistinguishable from one from Togoland in the Museum of Com- 

 X)arative Zoology. They are very slightly darker above, but this 

 seems to be due wholly to the way the skins are made. Of course, it 

 is not improbable that ohscuratus is confined to northeastern Came- 



■^ Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 195. 

 iiOrn. Monatsb.. vol. 31. 1923. 



Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 1! 

 ^Orn. Monatsb.. vol. 31, 1923, p. 



63. 



