BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 277 



that Zedlitz had listed and heuglini) : In the letter referred to, 

 Neumann stated the characters of fischet^i to be as follows : " * * * 

 a totally different looking bill which is more curved and thinner than 

 in any otlier species of African Centroptis * * * the lower man- 

 dible of C. fischeH, seen from below, is amher yellow * * * the 

 whole upper side of C. fischeri is blackish olive brown. There is no 

 gloss on the black head * * * the yellowish-buff eye streak is 

 another very prominent character of G. -fischeri.'''' Of G. monachus 

 heuglini Bannerman writes that if, " * * * this race is not ac- 

 cepted the Sudan birds must be called occ'identalis and not iischeri.'''' 

 Sclater ^^ lists -fischeri as a distinct species, likewise cupreieaudus, 

 while angolensis and Jieuglini he apparently considers as synonyms 

 of occidental 'is. As far as G. vionachus figures in his list, it is 

 credited with but two races, the typical one, and occidentalis. I have 

 given all the above data to show why Sclater lists the birds as he 

 does, inasmuch as his list will undoubtedly be consulted by all workers 

 in African ornithology. There now remains to be shown why this 

 arrangement can not be accepted. Stresemann ^^ has recently shown 

 very conclusively that fischeri was based on immature specimens, and 

 that all the characters mentioned by Neumann are those of imma- 

 turity and that the birds belong to the species monachus and are 

 the same as the form named heuglini in 1911. In this connection it 

 should be noted that Sclater and Praed ®^ found that some of the 

 birds from the Upper Nile and Mongalla Provinces of the Sudan 

 were quite noticeably darker than others collected at the same time 

 of the year in the same localities. This rather puzzling state of 

 affairs is not only clarified by Stresemann's discovery that the birds 

 of this part of Africa have dark immature plumages {fischeri) and 

 more ordinary monachus-Wko. adult featherings, but serves to cor- 

 roborate his conclusions. As the name fischeri has priority over 

 heuglini the latter goes into synonymy. It should be understood 

 that this race is best characterized by the immature plumage, and in 

 the adult stage is more or less intermediate between its geographical 

 neighbors, monachus on the east, and occidentalis on the west. How- 

 ever, it is dark backed as a rule in the adult, and occasionally very 

 dark. A male from Mabira, Uganda, in the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology, is of this dark type. Reichenow ^^ refers to another 

 dark adult from Bussisi as " var. nigrodorsalis.'''' Granvik ^^ records 

 an adult male from Kiambu, Kenya Colony, with a blackish-brown 

 back, " * * * almost the same color as Gentropus {monachus) 



83 Ibis, 1919, p. G46. 



»Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, pp. 185-186. 



S'Verh. Ornitli. Gcs. Bayern, vol. 16, Hoft 1, 1924, pp. 54-55. 



88Vog. Afr., vol. 2, 1903, p. 63. 



*»Journ. f. Oinith., 1923, Sonderheft, pp. 77-78. 



