BIEDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 175 



Several of the specimens collected are molting the reniiges. The 

 molt begins at the carpal joint and proceeds distally in the primaries 

 and proximally in the secondaries. 



The series shows that the tail measurements as given by Hartert,®^ 

 90-100 millimeters, do not indicate the true limits of variation. The 

 maximum is greater than any specimens I have examined, but 5 out 

 of 12 birds have tails shorter than 90 millimeters. The smallest is 

 85 millimeters. Hartert's figures for the bill are 22-25 millimeters, 

 while the birds examined measure from 22.5-27 millimeters in this 

 respect. 



Family SCOLOPACIDAE 



CAPELLA NIGRIPENNIS (Bonaparte) 



GalUnago nigrlpennis Bonaparte, Icon. Faun. It;il., Uce. fasc. 25, 1839: Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



Specimens collected: 



Male, Arussi Plateau, 10,000 feet (3,000 meters), Ethiopia, 

 February 27, 1912. 



Soft parts : Bill brown, greenish at base ; iris brown. 



The single specimen collected is fully adult. It is somewhat larger 

 than another female from Dangila, 40 miles south of Lake Tsana, 

 Ethiopia, which, in turn, is labeled by the collector (R.. E. Chees- 

 man) as " * * * smaller than usual * * *." Aside from size, 

 the birds differ in that the Arussi specimen has the chin and upper 

 throat pure white while that from Dangila has only the chin un- 

 streaked. Also the former is darker and more brightly marked 

 above, but is in fresh plumage, whereas the latter is in worn condi- 

 tion. 



This snipe is a bird of the plateau country of eastern and southern 

 Africa. 



In Ethiopia it occurs north as far as Adua in the Tigre district. 

 Zedlitz ^^ definitely says that it does not occur in the plateau of 

 Asmara, and that Adua is probably the northern limit of its range. 

 Various writers have shown that this species is a highland form; 

 as for example, Erlanger ^ who writes that it occurs in the highland 

 districts of Shoa ; Neumann - who found it at Adis Abeba, while 

 recently, Gyldenstolpe,^ in the Kivu district, eastern Congo, 

 met with it only jn swampy places in the highest point of 



"svijg. pal. Fauna, p. 1564. 



"»Joui-n. f. Ornith., 1910, p. 321. 



1 Idem, 190.5, pp. 77-78. 



- Idem, 1904, p. 332. 



' Kungl. Sv. Vet. Akad. Ilandlgr., 1924, p. 299. 



