BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 443 



TRICHOLAEMA MELANOCEPHALUM MELANOCEPHALUM (Cretzschmar) 



PogonkiH mchinoceph-ala Cketzschmab, in Riippell's Atlas, p. 41, pi. 28, 1829: 

 Kordofan, probably Ethiopia. 



Specimeiis collected: 



One male and two females, Sadi Malka, Ethiopia, January 28-31, 

 1912. 



This species of barbet occurs in eastern Africa from central Tan- 

 ganyika Territory north to Bogosland. It divides into three races, 

 as follows : 



1. T. m. melanocephaluni. — Bogosland and northern Ethiopia 

 south as far as Adis Abeba, east to Samadu near Harrar. It may 

 occur in adjacent i)ortions of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan as well, as 

 the type locality was originally thought to be Kordofan, but Sclater 

 and Mackworth-Praed - state that probably Riippell's birds came 

 from Etliiopia as the form has not been noted since then in the 

 Sudan. This race has the crown, nape, chin, and throat black. 



2. T. /n. stigmatothorax. — Southern Ethiopia (Tertale) south 

 through the country around Lakes Rudolf and Stefanie across 

 Kenya Colony and southern Somaliland, to northern Tanganyika 

 Territory (as far south as Dodoma on the central railway line. 

 Sclater -•'' gives the Kilimanjaro district as the southern limit, but 

 Loveridge collected two birds at Dodoma, about 200 miles to the 

 south. In this race the black of tiwlanocephalwin is replaced by dark 

 brown. 



3. T. m. hlaiidl. — Central and eastern Somaliland from the Goolis 

 Mountains to Obbia. This race, of which I have seen no material, 

 is said to be similar to stigmatofhorax in having the crown, nape, 

 auriculars, chin, and throat brown, but to differ from it in having the 

 feathers of the forehead and throat distinctly tipped with whitish. 



In the northern half of Ethiopia the black-throated barbet ap- 

 pears to be relatively less numerous than its brown-throated represen- 

 tative is further south. Blanford -^ writes that he saw this bird only 

 near the coast, in Eritrea, where he obtained specimens at Komayli 

 and Ailat. He says that this is a lowland bird, characteristic of the 

 tropical zone. 



One of the females is in molting condition, the tail being the part 

 affected. The measurements of the specimens are as follows: 



Male: "Wing 67.5, tail 38.5, culmen 17.5, tarsus 19.0 millimeters. 



Female : Wing 64.5, tail 39.0, culmen 18.5, tarsus 19.0 millimeters. 



Female: Wing 66.0, tail 38.0, culmen 18.0, tarsus 19.0 millimeters. 



alibis, 1919, p. C37. 



«sSyst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 275. 



^ Geol. and Zool. Abyss., 1870, p. 310. 



