BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 293 



adult type, the molt beginning on the under parts and then spread- 

 ing to the back and head. A male taken on April 6 on the Gato 

 River is in this molt. The under parts are new, the upper parts, a 

 mixture of light earth brown (immature) feathers and darker, adult 

 ones. The amount of pale reddish brown on the throat and breast 

 seems to increase with ag6 as does also the dull bluish-green sheen 

 on the upper parts, according to Erlanger.^^ However, while the 

 present series seems to confirm this in a general way, it is note- 

 worthy that the immature male from Tharaka has both these char- 

 acters well developed. It seems, therefore, better to put the matter 

 in a slightly different way, that the dull bluish-green margins of the 

 feathers of the upper back increase in width with age, and the color 

 is therefore more noticeable and persists even in worn birds, while 

 the gray margins of the throat and breast feathers become suc- 

 cessively narrower with each molt, thereby rendering the sub- 

 terminal rufescent areas more and more visible. 



The red-bellied parrot occurs from central Ethiopia (Dire Daoua, 

 Sadi Malka, etc.) through Shoa, Arussiland, Gallaland, Somaliland, 

 and Kenya Colony to the Pangani Eiver in Tanganyika Territory. 

 The birds of northern Somaliland are considered subspecifically 

 distinct {pallidus). The species lives in the Acacia-Mimosa bush- 

 veldt, and is therefore absent in the highlands of Ethiopia. In 

 that country it is found in the valleys, lowlands, and, more widely, 

 in the southern districts where the altitudes are lower. Erlanger ^^ 

 writes that it breeds in holes in termite mounds in Ethiopia (on 

 trees in East Africa according to Schillings) and that the breeding 

 season is during May and June. Zedlitz -^ writes that as this bird 

 is a fruit eater it would seem logical to assume that its breeding 

 season would not come during the height of the rainy season as 

 Erlanger's data would indicate, but that it would be some weeks or 

 months later when the fruit was ripe. 



Mearns observed the red-bellied parrot on the following occa- 

 sions: Errer to Gada Bourca, commonly seen and heard; Dire 

 Daoua, common; Hawash River, everywhere, but not numerous; 

 Abaya Lakes, March 19-26, 9 seen; Gato River, March 29 to May 

 IT, 200; Bodessa and Sagon River, May 19 to June C, 162; Tertale, 

 June 7-12, 4 birds ; Turturo, June 15-17, 20 seen ; Wobok, June 18, 

 20 ; near Saru, June 19, 20 birds ; Yebo, June 20, 10 recorded ; Karsa 

 Barecha, June 21, 50; Chaffa villages, June 22-23, 30 seen; Northern 

 Guaso Nyiro River, July 31 to August 3, 14 birds; Tharaka district, 

 August 13, 20 seen; Tana River, August 14-17, 90; junction of 

 Tana and Thika Rivers, August 23-26, 6 birds seen. 



-sjourn. f. Ornith., 1905, p. 438. 

 2" Idem, 1915, p. 5. 



