BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 199 



parts are brighter and more rufescent. The differences, however, are 

 slight and do not invariably hold, but in the great majority of cases 

 the specimens exhibit these characters. 



The range of this bird is more extensive than hitherto thought. 

 Sclater "^ writes, *' Somaliland and the northern part of Kenya 

 Colony," while more recently Van Someren "^ gives it as the, 

 ;. * * * northern portion of Jubaland, and the thorn-bush country 

 north of Mount Kenia, westward to Baringo and Lake Kudolf, and 

 Turkhana." The present series extends the known range of soma- 

 Jicus north along the eastern shore of Lake Rudolf to southern 

 Ethiopia (Chaffa village, near the Kenya border). 



In his recent account of this species, Van Someren "^ writes that 

 the young male in second plumage is very similar to the adult female, 

 '• * * * having much the same general appearance but differs in 

 being more rufescent on the mantle, more barred on the breast, and 

 a lighter brown on the belly." The three immature males from Hor, 

 Kenya Colony, are changing from this plumage into the adult type. 

 All three have the low^er breast and abdomen similar to adult males 

 except medially, while the rest of the plumage is immature in part or 

 whole, indicating that the feathers of the underside of the body are 

 the first to be molted (the remiges apparently are not shed in this 

 molt). The molt then proceeds to the upper breast, wing coverts, 

 interscapulars, and scapulars. At about the time the upper wing 

 coverts are replaced, black feathers sprout in the middle of the 

 brown abdomen. At the same time the feathers of the crown and 

 nape are shed and, finally, the rump and upper tail coverts. All 

 three birds still have the immature, heavily barred rectrices and 

 lack the elongate central pair characteristic of adults. Apparently 

 the tail is the last part to molt. 



Adults in fresh plumage have the feathers of the upper back, inter- 

 scapulars, scapulars, and lesser and middle upper wing coverts 

 broadly tipioed with dark brown, subterminally banded even more 

 widely with pale tawny buff. The apical brown tips wear away and 

 in older plumages are either very narrow or wholly wanting. 



Adults vary considerably in the intensity of their coloration. Thus, 

 three females taken at Hor on two consecutive days exhibit differences 

 nearly as great as those between geographical forms of this species. 

 One bird has the throat and breast deeply suffused with rufescent 

 tawny pink and has the abdomen lighter than the other two, the 

 dark bars being deep brown, but not by any means blackish brown ; 

 one of the others has the throat much more yellowish, the breast as in 

 the first but lighter, and the abdomen dark brownish black barred 



'« Syst. Avium Ethlop., 1924, p. 156. 



" Journ. E. Afr. and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, No. 29, April, 1927, p. 47. 



