BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 331 



south of Kilimanjaro, Tanganyika Territory," or, in other words 

 leave? the type locality stranded approximately 200 miles outside the 

 stated geographic limits of the subspecies. 



The general impression that one gains from going through the 

 literature is that this coly is rather scarce and consequently little is 

 known of its habits. However, this is really due to the fact that few 

 collectors take the time to make worth-while observations. That the 

 bird is not uncommon is indicated by the following records in 

 Mearns' diary. Plains at base and south of Endoto Mountains, July 

 19-24, 60 birds seen; Er-re-re, July 25, 100; Le-se-dun, July 26, 

 100; Malele and country to the south to the Northern Guaso Nyiro 

 liiver, July 27-31, 1,000 birds noted. 



COLIUS MACROURUS MACROURUS (Linnaeus) 



Lanius macronrus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, voL 1, p. 134, 1766: Senegal. 



Specimens collected: 



One unsexed, Ourso, Ethiopia, no date. C'epharino collection. 



Eight male adults, three female adults, one unsexed. Dire Daoua, 

 Ethiopia, December 2-21, 1911. 



Two male adults, one female adult, Sadi Malka, Ethiopia, Janu- 

 ary 27, 1912. 



The blue-naped mouse bird occurs in eastern and northeastern 

 Africa, westward across the Sudan to Senegal. In studying its 

 systematics I have examined a series of nearly a hundred specimens 

 representing all the valid races. I recognize three forms, agreeing 

 in my conclusions with Sclater ■*'- and differing from the results 

 arrived at by C. Grant,"*^ Van Someren,** Gyldenstolpe,^^ and others. 



1. CoJkis m. macrourus. — Senegal to Lake Chad (not known from 

 south of the Upper Guinean savanna region) to Darfur, the Nile 

 Valley, the northern half of Ethiopia, Bogosland, Eritrea, French 

 and British Somaliland. C. m. syntactus **^ is a synonym. As has 

 been pointed out by Zedlitz,*'' Oberholser proposed this name without 

 having seen any Ethiopian material, but solely on the basis of Neu- 

 mann's description of pulcher '^^ in which Neumann, thinking that 

 the type locality of macrourus was Ethiopia, correctly gave the dif- 

 ferences between the birds of Kenya Colony and those from farther 

 north. Oberholser showed that macrourus was described from Sen- 

 egal, not Ethi()])ia, and not having any Senegalese birds to study, 



"Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, pp. 267-268. 



" Ibis, 1915, pp. 405—106. 



"Nov. Zool., vol. 29, 1922, pp. 71-72. 



« Kiui-l. Sv. Vet. Ak:ul. Haiidlsr., 1924, p. 262. 



■«' Oberholser, rroc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 28, 1905, p. 863: Abyssinia. 



"Journ. f. Ornith., 1910, pp. 757-758. 



*« Idem, 1900, p. 190 : Bura, Toita district, Kenya Colony. 



