184 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



A series of 24 sj)ecimens of this species indicates that there is no 

 constant difference in size between the 2 races, but the measurements 

 for the typical, western form average smaller, a result agreeing with 

 the data presented in Mrs. Meinertzhagen's review. 



O. s. senegalensis : 



Male: Wings 205-220, tail 110-114, culmen 42.5, tarsus 66.5-69 

 millimeters. 



Female: Wings 210, tail 114, culmen 42.5, tarsus 67.5 millimeters. 



Unsexed: Wings 198-214.5, tail 102-111.5, culmen 43-48.5, tarsus 

 69-72.5 millimeters. 



O. s. assiinilis: 



Male: Wings 212-228, tail 105-121, culmen 42-46, tarsus 61-71 

 millimeters. 



Female: Wings 209-224, tail 113-125.5, culmen 41-44, tarsus 

 61.5-71 millimeters. 



Unsexed : Wings 211-220, tail 113-118, culmen 41-44, tarsus 63-69 

 millimeters. 



The male and female collected at the Hawasli River, on February 

 11, were a mated pair, and the female from Lake Abaya, March 19, 

 contained an enlarged Qgg.) both signs that the breeding season in 

 Ethiopia is during March and April. 



Besides the specimens obtained, Mearns saw 24 of these birds at the 

 Abaya Lakes, March 18-26, and 2 at Bodessa, June 3-6. 



OEDICNEMUS CAPENSIS AFFINIS Ruppell 



Oedicnemus afjfinis Ruppexl, Mus. Senck., vol. 2, p. 210, 1837: Kordofan. 



Specimens collected: 



Male and female, 18 miles south of Hor, Kenya Colony, July, 1912. 



In her review of this group ^^ Mrs. Meinertzhagen considers afflnis 

 as a synonym of viacidosus^ as does also Hartert.^^ Sclater ^^ and 

 Lynes "^ recognize afflnis. I have seen no material of maculosus and 

 I therefore adhere to my policy of following Sclater's list in all cases 

 that I have not been able to study for myself. Sclater calls Kordo- 

 fan the type locality of a^nis, but this procedure is open to question. 

 Riippell wrote the range of the bird as Ethiopia, Nubia, and Kordo- 

 fan, but his specimens actually came from the Red Sea coast of 

 Ethiopia or Eritrea. Hartert, in noting this, writes that the figure in 

 " * * * Syst. Uebers. Vog. N. O. Af r. pi. 42, seems * * * to 

 represent a bird different from the brightly colored ones from the 

 Senegal, Gambaga, Asben, Upper Nile and White Nile, with which 

 also one from Eritrea agrees." In his review Zedlitz *° writes that 



""Ibis, 1924, pp. 343-34G. 



»^Nov. Zool., vol. 28, 1921, p. 8S. 



^Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 142. 



3» Uns. 192.5. p. 55!). 



^"Journ. f. Ornlth., 1910, p. 314. 



