BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 261 



follows that heuglini can be nothing but a pure synonym of rwficollis. 

 However, ruflcollis is said to be a synonym of gularis, based on an 

 immature specimen with a rufous throat. Yet the same authors that 

 list heuglini as a synonym of solitarius consider Tiificollis as one of 

 gularis.-^ If heuglini and ruflcollis are really based on specimens of 

 solitarius, it would be necessary to examine birds from the Bahr el 

 Abiad (White Nile) before describing as new the Ethiopian form, 

 as they may be identical, in which case the name ru-ficoUis Heugiin 

 would have to be used. 



Yet another possibility presents itself. One specimen from Natal, 

 South Africa, and one from the Usambara Mountains, Tanganyika 

 Territory, approach the Abyssinian birds in color, almost matching 

 them. It may be that a larger series from northeastern Africa would 

 show the difference to be less real than it appears, but still the 

 present series is so constantly dark that this seems unlikely. It 

 may be, in fact, it seems not unlikely, that the birds of the moun- 

 tain forests in tropical eastern Africa, such as the Uluguru and the 

 Usambara ranges, may average darker than birds of lowland for- 

 ests or comparatively lowland woods, such as Taveta, Ngong, etc. 



Whether or not the Ethiopian birds be regarded as subspecifically 

 distinct, it is of interest to find that the species tends to darkness 

 in color in that part of its range. There are four closely allied forms 

 of Cuculus in Africa, solitarius^ clamosus^ gahonensis, and chalyheuSy 

 which vary in an interesting manner. C. chalyheus combines to some 

 extent the characters of clamiosus and gahonensis ; likewise mdbirae^ a 

 race of gahonensis, blends the color characters of that species with 

 those of solitarius. The Abyssinian examples of the latter feebly 

 suggest (but only very slightly) an approach toward gahonensis in 

 general intensity of coloration, although retaining the gray throat 

 (which is rufous in gahonensis). 



The Juvenal plumage of solitaHus is quite distinct from that of 

 claniosus, chalyheus, and gahonensis. It has the entire head, back, 

 tail, wrings, chin, throat, and breast blackish, the feathers narrowly 

 tipped with white, the rectrices with large white irregular spots, 

 usually more or less median in position, the remiges incompletely 

 and irregadarly barred with white on the inner webs ; a white patch 

 on the occiput; the abdomen and under-tail coverts white heavily 

 and broadly banded with black, the bands being less heavy and 

 broken into transverse spots on the under-tail coverts. A specimen 

 in postjuvenal molt indicates that the first feathers to be shed and 

 replaced are those of the abdomen and under-tail coverts, then the 

 interscapulars, lower back and upper tail coverts, then the breast, 

 beginning posteriorly and proceeding forward, while the head and 



=»Sce Reichenow, VOg. Afr., vol. 2, pp. 87 and 91; Cat. Bda. Brit. Mus., vol. 19, 1891, 

 pp. 244 and 258; etc. 



