BIEDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 275 



completely overlap those given by Hartert for the Senegambian race. 

 If Grote's northern Cameroon birds are chrysochlorus, then speci- 

 mens from Liberia should belong to that race as well. While it is 

 true that two birds from that country examined by me are small 

 (wings 109 and 113 millimeters, respectively) they are matched by 

 others equally small from South Africa. 



This cuckoo occurs throughout the region covered by the present 

 paper, but is rather local in Ethiopia and less common there than in 

 Kenya Colony. Thus, Blanford '■* found it to be rather scarce in 

 the Anseba Valley (Eritrea) and did not meet with it at all in 

 Ethiopia. Neumann "^ likewise did not see this species in Shoa and 

 southern Ethiopia, but met with its relative L. klaasi only. On the 

 other hand, Erlanger "^ reported it as not uncommon in Ethiopia, 

 Shoa, and Gallaland, and observed it in the highlands as well as in 

 the valleys and lowlands. He found it quite numerous at Adis 

 Abeba and writes that it occurs in bushy hillsides, in valleys with 

 rich vegetation, and in the gardens of the Gallas. In Kenya Colony 

 it is very common and widespread and is known from a great many 

 stations. It is less a bird of the forest than klaasi and prefers the 

 denser part of the Acacia-Mimosa savannas, but also occurs in the 

 more open parklike country where trees are fewer and further apart. 

 Between March and October the number of these cuckoos in East 

 Africa is augmented by the presence of the " wintering " birds that 

 breed in South Africa. Just how far north the southern birds 

 actually wander is not definitely known. Stark and Sclater "^ write 

 that it " * * * is found in South Africa only in the summer from 

 October to May, and appears to migrate during our winter to the 

 Upper Nile Valley and Abyssinia, and perhaps to West Africa 

 * * *." Zedlitz "'^ writes that in Eritrea the species seems to occur 

 only during the rainy season, all having departed by the end of May. 

 His collector remained there until late in July and saw none. 

 Heuglin noted that the appearance of this cuckoo seemed to coincide 

 more or less with the inception of the rains. This points to a further 

 complication in the task of unravelling the distributional problems of 

 this bird, as at the same time (approximately) when southern breed- 

 ing birds are flying northward the resident birds of northeastern 

 Africa are also shifting about, just where to no one knows. In 

 tropical Africa the breeding birds are more or less sedentary but the 

 region is periodically inundated with southern migrants and northern 

 wanderers. The movements of the latter group seem rather irregular 



" Geol. and Zool. Abyss., 1870, p, 313. 



■"Journ. f. Ornith., 1904, p. 382. 



"Idem, 1905, p. 485. 



" Fauna of South Africa, Birds, vol. 3, 1903. p. IDO. 



"Journ. f. Ornith., 1910, p. 743. 



94312—30 19 



