BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 301 



correlate any variations with geography and consequently I do not 

 recognize any subspecies of Glaucidium perlatum. This conclusion 

 was also reached by Claude Grant ^^ and by Sclater and Mack- 

 worth-Praed" and others, while Erlanger ^^ and Van Someren ^^ 

 have argued in favor of two or even three races. Van Someren's 

 arsrument I can not follow at all. He writes that there is a western 

 form and an eastern race, but that East African birds are inter- 

 mediate. 



At first sight it seemed as though the present three birds repre- 

 sented a dark, quite distinct race, as they are • noticeably darker, 

 especially on the ventral stripes, than any of a series of nine from 

 Kenya Colony, Tanganyika Territory, South Africa, and Damara- 

 land, but Erlanger ^^ noted that his birds from the same region 

 agreed with others from equatorial East Africa. Furthermore the 

 present three skins are somewhat compressed, thereby tending to 

 intensify the coloration, and are also grease burned, and still 

 further, it must be remembered that owls are notoriously variable 

 in coloration. 



The most striking variation as one looks over a series of speci- 

 mens is the presence or absence of whitish spots on the head. Claude 

 Grant ^^ suggested that unspotted birds were young and that the 

 wdiite spots were acquired later. Lynes ^^ found he could safely 

 confirm Grant's provisional conclusion as he procured young 

 birds from several family groups. The bird collected by Mearns 

 on May 13 at Gato River is then a young bird as it has the whole 

 crown, occiput, and mantle plain, only the forehead being spotted. 

 The Yebo specimen is slightly older as there are a few spots on the 

 crown and several on the mantle, and the forehead is spotted as in 

 the first mentioned bird. The other Gato River specimen (April 16) 

 is an adult. 



In some adults the spots on the crown are elongated into small 

 bars, but this is purely an individual variation. 



It does not appear to be generally recognized that this owl is 

 dichromatic but such seems to be the case. The two phases, gray 

 and rufous, are less distinct than in many other owls, but yet are 

 quite obvious upon careful study. 



6» Ibis, 1915, p. 25G. 



62 Idem, 1919, pp. 681-682. 



"Journ. f. Ornlth., 1904, pp. 240-241. 



" Nov. Zool., vol. 29, 1922, p. 46. 



w Ibis, 1925, p. 391. 



