BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 351 



from Cameroon, so the tj'pical material examined has been decidedly 

 limited. However, Sclater, Bannerman, and others, who have seen 

 adequate Senegalese series have kept them united with Abyssinian 

 and Kenian birds. Van Someren,^^ on the other hand, writes that 

 Senegal birds are quite distinct from Uganda and East African ones. 

 If this should be taken as convincing evidence, then the name centralis 

 Neumann would have to be used for the eastern birds. Van Someren 

 does not state whether he compared the Senegal birds with Abys- 

 sinian ones (which he calls ugandae)^ but I can not separate Ethi- 

 opian from Kenian and Tanganyikan and Sudanese birds. How- 

 ever, Van Someren appears to have forgotten that males have darker 

 bellies and the blue of the wings and tail less greenish than females, 

 and to have compared Senegalese females with eastern males. 



3. Halcyon leucocephala acteon. — A series of 69 specimens sup- 

 ports the validity of this rather larger, island form. The coloration 

 is quite variable, but the larger size is a good character. The head 

 and neck average whiter than in leucocephala. 



4. Halcyon leucocephala. seimcaerulea. — The Arabian form is char- 

 acterized by its very dark belly and the violet tinge on the cobalt- 

 blue remiges and rectrices. In northern Ethiopia the typical form 

 approaches this one. In this race there is no sexual difference in 

 color. 



5. Halcyon leucocephala hyaeinthina. — The range of this race is 

 more extensive than hitherto thought. It occurs along the coastal 

 strip of eastern Africa from Djibouti, French Somaliland to the 

 Pangani River, Tanganyika Territory, thence inland through south- 

 ern Tanganyika to Nyasaland. The name ogilviei is a synonym. 

 The Djibouti record (specimen in Field Museum) may be a migrant. 



Mearns recorded this kingfisher at the following places : ChafFa 

 villages, June 24—25, 1 bird; plains at base and south of Endoto 

 Mountains, July 21-24, 4 seen ; Northern Guaso Nyiro River, July 

 31 to August 3, 8 birds noted ; Tana River, August 22, 3 seen ; junc- 

 tion of Tana and Thika Rivers, August 23-26, 20 noted; Thika 

 River, August 27, 20 birds observed ; west of Ithanga Hills, August 

 28, 20 seen; Athi River, August 29 to September 1, 22 noted. 



HALCYON CHELICUTI CHELICUTI (Stanley) 



Alaudo chelicuti Stanley, in Salt's Voy. Abyssinia, App., p. Ivi, 1814 : Chelicut, 

 Abyssinia. 



Spechnens collected : 



Three male adults and five female adults, Dire Daoua, Ethiopia, 

 December 6-15, 1911. 



8' Nov. Zool., vol. 20, 1892. p. 76. 



