BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 395 



specimen of somaliens'ls, 1 of abyssinicus (not fully adult at that), 

 and 24 of neglectus. The typical form has the upper throat dark 

 steel blue, the nape and upper back velvety black glossed with dull 

 purplish blue; between neglectus and abyssinicus I can see no dif- 

 ference, but this may be due to the paucity of material of the latter 

 examined. Zedlitz*' states that the upper back and mantle are 

 slightly more greenish in neglectus than in abyssinicus, and that the 

 former is brighter earth green on the underparts than the latter. 

 Hartert " writes that while — 



* * * P. e. niloticus Neum. appears to be well distinguishable, his neglec- 

 tus seems to be founded on younger black-billed specimens, but of abyssinicus 

 no entirely red-billed example seems to be known ; though the supposed colour 

 differences of abyssinicus from niloticus (and neglectus) do not hold good, 

 it must be kept separate, until red-billed birds in the countries inhabited by 

 it are found — if they should exist. Doubtless the bills of niloticus become red 

 much later than those of other red-billed subspecies, but they do become red 

 in old birds. 



Hartert considers these birds all forms of purpureus. 



It seems to me that one cause for confusion between abyssinicus 

 and neglectus is the fact that the former occurs (according to Neu- 

 mann) in the highlands of central and southern Ethiopia where it 

 is surrounded in the lower country by neglectus, and intergrades 

 probably occur on the slopes of the mountains all through the range 

 of the latter. It may be for this reason that Sclater restricts abys- 

 sinicus to Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, although in his original 

 description Neumann gave the range as the Abyssinian highlands 

 from Bogosland south to the mountains of southern Ethiopia. 

 However, Neumann himself ^ later restricted abyssinicus to the samt 

 area that Sclater did. However, if the reason for this restriction 

 was that suggested above, then that arbitrary action is merely an 

 artificial way out of a complex and difficult situation and is not a 

 true solution. We should be prepared to find two forms with an 

 unusually high percentage of intergrades. The real question is 

 whether it serves any purpose to attach names to forms that inter- 

 digitate and blend so extensively. I can not answer the question 

 without seeing additional northern material. 



The birds of extreme southern Ethiopia are somewhat intermediate 

 between neglectus and somalien^is (Gato River, Bodcssa, and Sagon 

 River specimens). 



This wood hoopoe is a bird of the thorny bushy thickets and is 

 found in pairs or small groups, and is apparently quite similar 

 in its general habits to the more widely ranging P. purpureus. 



"Journ. f. Ornith., 1910, pp. 778-779. 

 'Nov. Zool., vol. 31, 1924, p. 114. 

 ojoiirn. f. OrnitlJ., 190.5, p. 195. 



