366 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Grant ^^ writes tliat the juvenal plumage of cyanostictus is darker 

 above and below than that of meridion/ilis. He had seen but one of 

 the former. I have seen but one young bird of the latter race and 

 six in corresponding plumage of the former, and, as far as the 

 limited material permits of an opinion, I agree with Grant's state- 

 ment. However, the specimens of juvenal cyanostictus show consider- 

 able variation among themselves, and with ampler material the slight 

 apparent difference between the two may disappear. On the other 

 hand, the young of sJuirpei are very slightly darker, possibly more 

 bluish, on the breast than those of cyanostictus. In this case I have 

 seen small series of each and feel more confident as to the reality 

 of the difference. In the former the superciliaries (which apparently 

 do not appear until all the other parts of the plumage are fully 

 developed) are darker and more purplish than in the latter. 



In the southern part of its range this race intergrades with 

 meridionalis to such an extent that it is often difficult to identify 

 specimens to either. It is all the more unfortunate, therefore, that 

 the type locality should be as far south as Mombasa. Oberholser,^* 

 in reporting on Abbott's Kilimanjaro collection, notes that birds 

 from Taveta are more or less intermediate between cyanostictus and 

 meridionalis., but a specimen from there in the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology (H. Friedmann collection) is typical cyanostictus. 

 The ranges of the two forms are, however, complementary, and the 

 area of overlapping relatively narrow. 



I find the following entries of this species in Mearns' notes : Lake 

 Rudolf, southeast, July 11-12, 4 birds noted; Indunumara Moun- 

 tains, July 12-18, 50 ; plains at base and south of the Endoto Moun- 

 tains, July 19-24, 70 ; Er-re-re, July 25, 20 seen ; Le-se-dun, July 26, 

 10 noted; Malele and country to the south for 45 miles, July 27-30, 

 50 birds; Northern Guaso Nyiro River, July 31 to August 3, 30 

 seen; Lekiundu River, August 4-8, 30 noted; Tharaka district, Aug- 

 ust 12-13, 24 birds ; Tana River, August 19-26, 120 birds noted. 



MELITTOPHAGUS LAFRESNAYII LAFRESNAYII (Guerin) 



Merops lafresnayii Gu#.rin, Rev. ZooL, 1843, p. 322 : Ethiopia. 



Spedmens collected: 



Male adult, Dire Daoua, Ethiopia, December 10. 1911 (F. von 

 Ziilow collection). 



Male adult, Ourso, Ethiopia, September 14, 1911 (A. Ouellard 

 collection). 



Male adult, Hawash River, Ethiopia, February 12, 1912. 



Male adult, Gidabo River, Ethiopia, March 15, 1912. 



=3 Ibis, 1915, p. 295. 



»*Proc. U. S. Nat. Miis., vol. 28, 1905, pp. 852-853. 



