BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 



355 



Three of the specimens collected by Mearns are molting. Of 

 these three, two are from Dire Daoua, December 5 and 15, while the 

 third is from Lekiimdii River, August 6. In all three the evidence 

 of the wing molt upholds the conclusions reached by Laubmann in 

 his studies of the order of the molt of the remiges in this genus, 

 the two centers of origin being the innermost primary and the 

 seventh primary. The molt begins at the first center before it does 

 at the second and progresses more rapidly in the first case, so that 

 the old sixth primary is replaced and the new one fully grown before 

 the new outermost remex has attained full size. Curiously enough, 

 although specimens were taken over a period of nine months, none 

 show any signs of tail molt. 



The coloration of the adults varies in intensity on the upper parts ; 

 the lightest bird examined has the scapulars and interscapulars gray- 

 ish olive brown, the darkest chaetura drab. The blue of the lower 

 back, rump, and upper tail coverts ranges from Nile blue and beryl 

 green to Venetian blue, light methyl blue, and Italian blue. The 

 breast varies from practically immaculate white or creamy white 

 to light bufi'y white finely streaked with narrow earth brown shaft 

 stripes. The stripes are not the stripes of the immature plumage. 

 In the latter plumage the whole pectoral area is heavily streaked and 

 the feathers narrowly tipped with brown, giving it a scalloped 



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