BIKDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 297 



from Africa in January and February are moulting body, wings, 

 and tail, but * * * this is nearly complete in January * * *." 

 Lest it be assumed that a similar molting season holds for j^lchellus 

 it may be stated that the present specimen (collected December 17 is 

 in fresh plumage, the only signs of molt being on the lower breast. 

 The wings and tail feathers are fresh and full grown. It would 

 therefore appear that pulchellus molts earlier than scops, a thing 

 which (if found true in additional cases) suggests that the whole 

 life cycle of pulchellus may be a month earlier than that of scops, and 

 that the two races are thus isolated physiologically as well as geo- 

 graphically. 



OTUS SENEGALENSIS CAECUS Friedmann 



Ottis senegalensis caecus Friedmann, Auk, 1929, p. 521 : Sadi Malka, Ethiopia. 



Specimens collected: 



Female, Dire Daoua, Ethiopia, November 30, 1911. 

 Male, Dire Daoua, Ethiopia, December 9, 1911. 

 Female, Sadi- Malka, Ethiopia, February 1, 1912. 



The Sadi Malka bird is the type of this subspecies. 



As has been pointed out in a previous publication ^° this form of 

 the scops owl is the darkest, most heavily vermiculated one of the 

 species. Sclater,*^ Hartert,*- and others have maintained that it is 

 impossible to recognize any races of this owl on the mainland of 

 Africa, although admitting that the variations are very great. The 

 series available in any one museum is usually inadequate and contains 

 no considerable number of birds from any one locality, and it is con- 

 sequently difficult to determine if the individual is greater than the 

 geographical variation or not. However, the evidence points to the 

 conclusion that geographic variation exceeds individual differences, 

 and, while difficult to make out at times, several races are justifiable. 

 I recognize the following : 



1. Otus senegalensis senegalensis. — Senegal, Gambia, Gold Coast, 

 and western Sudan. 



2. Otus senegalensis ugandae. — The Bahr el Ghazal district of the 

 Sudan, the northeastern Belgian Congo, the Kivu district, Ruanda, 

 northwestern Tanganyika Territory, and extreme western Kenya 

 Colony. 



3. Otus senegalensis pygmaea. — Of this form which occurs in the 

 Tacazze. district, Sennar, and the Blue Nile, I am not certain as I 

 have not been able to compare it with typical senegalensis, but I sus- 

 pect that it is valid. 



"Friedmann, Auk, 1929, p. 521. 



" Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 241. 



*^Nov. Zool., vol. 31, 1924, p. 18. 



