BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 367 



Three male adults, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, March 

 27 to April 13, 1912. 



Male adult, Bodessa, Ethiopia, May 26, 1912. 



Male adult, Gendo, Kullo, 4,200 feet (1,260 meters), Ethiopia, 

 June 5, 1905 (P. Zaphiro collection). 



Male adult. Lake Bakate, Gamu, 2,000 feet (600 meters), Ethiopia, 

 September 3, 1905 (P. Zaphiro collection). 



The material available for study (16 specimens of lafresnayii^ 

 including the type, and 14 specimens of oreohates) is not sufficient 

 to enable me to add anything to the known distribution and system- 

 atics of this bee eater. The two races are well marked, the typical 

 form having the pectoral band deep blue, while in oreobates it is 

 practically black. The ranges of the two are as follows : 



1. M. I. lafresnay'd. — Eritrea, Bogosland, and all of Ethiopia 

 south to the southern Shoan Lake district and to Gallaland. Hil- 

 gert" lists as lafresnim/ii a young male from Somaliland, but 

 Zedlitz ^*^ writes that it really is MelUtophagus pusillus cyanostictus 

 (which, of course, is now sharpei). 



2. M. I. oreobates. — Uganda, Kenya Colony, and northern Tan- 

 ganyika Territory. In the west it occurs from Ruwenzori, Ruanda, 

 the Kivu Volcanoes, and the Ruzizi Valley south to the highlands 

 west of Lake Tanganyika. In eastern Uganda and Kenya Colony, 

 it is known from as far north as the Turkwell country. Mount 

 Elgon, Kisumu, Marakwet, the Northern Guaso Nyiro, Nairobi, and 

 Kyambu, while in Tanganyika Territory it has been taken as far 

 south as Morogoro and the Kilimanjaro and Usambara Moun- 

 tains districts. It is essentially a highland bird and its range is 

 consequently rather discontinuous. 



Granvik ^^ writes that in oreobates there are two color phases, a 

 green one, and a bluish one. The specimens examined by me bear 

 this out and show neither sex nor geography to be correlated with 

 this dimorphism. It seems, however, to be a matter of age, birds 

 in first postjuvenal plumage being more bluish, older ones greener. 

 This age diiference is not exhibited by the series of typical lafres- 

 riai/ii. however, and appears to be restricted to oreobates. In this 

 connection it should be noted that Erlanger -^ represents the central 

 rectrices as blue in adults and green in young birds, exactly the 

 opposite of what I find, Erlanger ^^ has described in detail the plum- 



^ Kat. Coll. Kriangcr, p. 314. 

 «Journ. f. Ornitb., 1915, p. 31. 

 -' Idem. 1023, Sondfrbcft, pp. 107-lOS. 

 '*Idem, 1905, pi. 10, figs d and e. 

 ^'Idem, pp. 456-457. 



