308 BULLETIISr 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



fraenatus^ but the bird is darker on the upper side and chest; the 

 shafts have a white line in front of the white patches, within which 

 it is partially black. This coloration of the shafts is exceptional, 

 but may possibly be an aberrant character. Otherwise the form 

 might be a subspecies of fraenatus, but it was rash to describe it." 

 I doubt that keniensis can be maintained, but whether it is identical 

 with fraenatus or with guttifer is a question. Only a comparison 

 of the types can give the answer. It would not be surprising if 

 keniensis and guttifer were found to be the same — forming a moun- 

 tain race in East Africa. 



Another point that presents some puzzling aspects is Lynes's 

 note on C. rufgena (?) in north and central Darfur.'^^ While it 

 is true that his three birds were all molting, and therefore in poor 

 condition for study, yet it must be admitted that the identification 

 is doubtless correct. However, Lynes writes that in Darfur it is 

 a " * * * fairly common migrant through the West Basin in 

 early summer to moult and spend the off season ; breeding somewhere 

 in the south." The bird is not known to breed anywhere north of 

 the Zambesi, and according to several writers, is not migratory in 

 South Africa, although in Damaraland Andersson found it to be 

 partially migratory, being commoner in the rainy season. In all 

 the vast territory between the Zambesi and the Sudan the species 

 is unknown, so two possibilities suggest themselves: (1) That the 

 South African birds do migrate to Darfur but have hitherto escaped 

 notice, or, (2) that the Darfur birds may turn out to be a new form 

 whose characters can not be appreciated except in full nuptial 

 plumage. In either case, the fact that Lynes's birds, " * * * ^q 

 not at all agree with the original description of C . r. ugandae von 

 Madarasz * * * 55 indicates that the latter (and fraenatus and 

 probably guttifer as well) are races of pectoralis and not of ruflgena. 



Zedlitz ^^ has suggested that fraenatus may be divisible into two 

 forms — a northern Ethiopian and Eritrean one, and a southern 

 form in the Shoan lakes district and Kenya Colony. He cautions 

 against this idea almost in the same lines by hinting that in Eritrea 

 and the Tigre district the typical birds appear to be somewhat 

 migratory and that therefore they may occur farther south during 

 their nonbreeding season and that the southern birds may be all 

 in off season plumage. I have examined a series of IT specimens 

 from Ethiopia and Kenya Colony and can find no constant dif- 

 ferences between them. On the whole the northern birds tend to 

 average slightly larger and darker, especially with reference to the 

 dark abdominal bars, but the difference is not great even as an 



" Ibis, 1925, p. 369 



" Ibis, 1925, p. 369. 



'«Journ. f. Ornith., 1910, p. 7S0 ; 1915, p. 37. 



