256 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



whole, smaller than Ethiopian ones, having wing lengths of 205 to 

 220, as against 215 to 230 millimeters, but that otherwise there ap- 

 pears to be no difference. I have measured all the individuals in the 

 series available and find the following variation in wing length: 



Males: Ethiopia and British Somaliland, 207-241 (average 223.2) ; 

 Kenya Colony and Tanganyika Territory 195-231 millimeters (aver- 

 age 214.0) . 



Females: Ethiopia and British Somaliland 211-234 (average 

 219.4) ; Kenya Colony and Tanganyika Territory 205-225 milli- 

 meters (average 213.9). 



While the extremes are fairly similar it is true that on the whole 

 the northern male birds are larger, that is, most of them have wing 

 lengths of over 220 millimeters, while the majority of the southern 

 males have them less than 220 millimeters. In the females there is no 

 difference. It seems that the variation is so great and the overlap- 

 ping so extensive that it is unwise to attempt subspecific discrimina- 

 tion. If the southern birds were to be considered separable they 

 would have to be known as G. leucogaster palUdirostris.^^ This name 

 was applied to the birds with yellowish-green bills before the sexual 

 nature of this character was discovered. Neumann ^^ records a fe- 

 male with a black bill, but writes that it may be a young bird. 

 Mearns corroborates this with his notes on the soft parts, as has 

 already been shown. 



The range of the white-bellied goaway bird is as follows: Shoa 

 and the Hawash region, and all of Somaliland south through Kenya 

 Colony to central Tanganyika Territory (Usagara and Ugogo) west 

 to Tarangole in the north and to the Rift Valley in Kenya Colony 

 and northern Tanganyika Territory. It seems to be locally absent 

 in the coastal districts from the Pangani River north to Witu, ac- 

 cording to Reichenow.^^ However, Sjostedt ^^ writes that it was com- 

 mon in several places in Usambara, although met with but once on 

 Mount Meru. Inasmuch as the Usambara Mountains are close to 

 the coast near the Pangani River, it may well be that Reichenow's 

 statement merely means that no actual specimens had been recorded 

 from north of that river. The species inhabits the Acacia-Mimosa 

 thorn country of eastern Africa, and is somewhat local, being nu- 

 merous in places, scarce, or even absent in others apparently equally 

 suitable. 



On April 18 at Gato River, near Gardula, Ethiopia, Mearns 

 found and collected a female bird (U.S.N.M. 244221) sitting on a 

 nest with two eggs which were about ready to hatch. The eggs 

 were immaculate, pale bluish; size, 42 by 34, 43 by 33 millimeters. 



" Cabanis, Journ. f. Ornith., 1878, p. 237 ; interior of Ukamba, Kenya Colony. 

 «Nov. Zoo!., vol. 15, 1908, pp. 367-368. 

 "Thierwclt Ost-Afr., vol. 2, Vogel, 1805, p. 102. 

 " Kilimanjaro-Meru Exp., vol. 1, Vuse!. 1910, p. 82. 



