BIEDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 409 



meters (female). At this rate, the male collected by Meams at the 

 Hawash River and one of the two from Sadi Malka, and, possibly, 

 also the female from Duletcha might be considered as forskalii. The 

 wing measurements of the typical form vary from 203-231 milli- 

 meters in the males, and from 202-211 millimeters in the females, 

 while Sclater *^ writes that Arabian birds (typical forskalii) have 

 wings averaging 250 millimeters in length. It is therefore apparent 

 that Zedlitz's birds are much closer to nasutus than to the Arabian 

 race. I know of no true forskalii from the African mainland. 



3. L. n. epirhinus. — Southern Kenya Colony, south through the 

 Taru Desert and the Kilimanjaro area through Tanganyika Terri- 

 tory, Mozambique, and Nyasaland to Swaziland, Zululand, Rhodesia, 

 Angola, and Bechuanaland to as far south as the Orange River. 



Roberts *^ has described a form from Bagamoyo, Tanganyika Ter- 

 ritory, under the name 77iaraisi, said to differ from epirhinus and the 

 other races of nasutus in being much smaller (wing ranging from 

 187 (female) to 202 (male); tail, 175 (female) to 180 (male); 

 culmen, 68 (female) to 80 millimeters (male). He apparently had 

 but one of each sex of his new form. Grant ** put maraisi into the 

 synonymy of epirhinus on the basis of a study of the range of size 

 variation found in this species in other parts of Africa, as he had no 

 Tanganyikan material for study. Roberts ^^ later refuted Grant's 

 conclusions and definitely stated that maraisi differs from epirhinus 

 not only in being smaller, but also in lacking a casque, thereby agree- 

 ing with typical nasutus. It should be borne in mind that Roberts 

 did not collect the type and cotype of maraisi himself but says that 

 they are fully adult. In 1925, at Taveta, southern Kenya Colony, I 

 collected a male specimen of epirhinus which has all the appearances 

 of being fully adult, which lacks the casque, and agrees with the 

 measurements of Tiiaraisi (wing 196, tail 180, and culmen 63 milli- 

 meters). Yet the bird, although seemingly adult, proved on dis- 

 section to be immature. It seems to me that maraisi is a synonym of 

 epirhinus based on immature specimens. It would be fairly easy 

 for Mr. Roberts to definitely settle this by examining the maxillary 

 and mandibular tomia of his birds, as the serrations do not appear 

 until the bird is at least a year old. If the type and cotype of maraisi 

 have smooth tomia, they are undoubtedly young birds. The sexual 

 difference in bill coloration develops before the serrations on the 

 tomia. 



The differences between the three races are as follows : forskalii is 

 similar to nasutus but larger, the wing averaging 250 millimeters as 



"Ibis. 1917, p. 175. 



"Ann. Transv. Mus., vol. 4, July, 1914, p. 170. 



" Ibis, 1915, p. 271. 



"Ann. Transv. Mus., vol. 5, 1917, pp. 248-250. 



