368 BULLETIN 15 3, U:NriTED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



ages of this bee eater, but unfortunately considers Jafresnayii and 

 oreohates as conspecific with variegatus^ which they are not. 



The type specimen of lafresnayii is fully adult but in worn plum- 

 age, the light tips of the rectrices being almost completely abraded. 

 It has more bluish on the upper parts than any other specimen 

 examined. 



According to Yan Someren ^" the two races intergrade in the 

 Turkwell country. 



The typical form averages slightly smaller than oreohates. Thir- 

 teen adult males of the former have the following measurements: 

 Wing, 90-100.5 (96.6) ; tail, T9-87.5 (82.7) ; culmen, 30-35.5 (32.3 

 millimeters) ; while six males of oreohates measure : Wing, 100-102 

 (101) ; tail, 88-92 (89.4) ; culmen 32-35 (33.4 millimeters). 



In Ethiopia the tj^pical form is said to be migratory, appearing 

 in March.3^ Blanford ^- writes that it is a " * * * common bird 

 in the passes from 3,000 feet upwards, and often seen on the high- 

 lands, especially after March." It is absent in the Anseba Valley, 

 according to the same observer. Neumann ^^ found that this is the 

 commonest species of its genus in the mountains of southern. Ethiopia, 

 and lives in regions between 2,000 and 2,500 meters above the sea. 

 Erlanger ^* records that the breeding season in Ethiopia is in March 

 and April. On May 6 at Gato River, Mearns found a nest of this 

 bee eater. " The nest cavity was six inches in diameter, at the end 

 of a tunnel two and a half feet in a bluff bank, near the bottom. It 

 contained a saucerful of wings of beetles and other insects. An old 

 ^gg, apparently originally plain white, nearly equally rounded at 

 both ends, had been punctured and its contents removed by insects. 

 Measurements 24 by 19.5 millimeters. An old bird flew out when 

 the tunnel had been dug out to within a foot of the nest cavity." 



MELITTOPHAGUS REVOILII (Oustalct) 



Mcrops revoiUi Oustaxet, Miss. Il^voil Comalis, Ois., p. 5, pi. 1, 1882: 

 Somaliland. 



/Specimens collected: 



Male and female, Hor, latitude 3° 19' N., Kenya Colony, June 

 28-30, 1912. 



Male, 25 miles southeast of Lake Rudolf, Kenya Colony, July 12, 

 1912. 



Two males, one unsexed, Indunumara Mountains, Kenya Colony, 

 July 14-16, 1912. 



Male, Endoto Mountains, Kenya. Colony, July 20, 1912. 



20 Nov. Zool., vol. 29, 1922. p. 79. 



" Sre Kiippell, Syst. Uebeis. VHg. N. O. Afrikas, 1845, p. 24. 



3= Gcol. and Zool. Abys., 1870, p. 322. 



s3Joui-n. f. Ornith., 1905, p. 191. 



3<Idem, 1905, p. 457. 



