356 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



appearance. In the southern damarensis the streaks and edges are 

 darker than in chelicuti. 



This kingfisher is widely distributed in the region dealt with in 

 this paper. Von Heuglin found it, usually in pairs, all along the 

 Eed Sea coasts and all through Ethiopia except on very high moun- 

 tains, in Takah, Galobat, and Sennar. He noted that it inhabits 

 open, dry, hilly country, steppes, and thinly wooded regions, and 

 although it was numerous he never saw it near water. Riippell's 

 observations bear out those of Von Heuglin. Although the latter 

 worker found this bird in Ethiopia, and met with it frequently not 

 only in that country but farther north in Bogosland as well as in the 

 adjacent parts of the Sudan, Blanford did not see it at all, a fact 

 which suggests that it may be locally absent in the Anseba Valley and 

 adjacent parts of Eritrea and Ethiopia. Both Neumann and Erlanger 

 obtained specimens in southern Shoa, and the latter in Somaliland as 

 well. Here again there is a curious disharmony in the results of 

 different collectors. The Italian travelers who collected in Shoa for 

 Salvadori never met with this kingfisher, although Neumann, Er- 

 langer, and Mearns were successful in this regard. 



Living as it does far from water, this bird has taken to nesting in 

 holes in trees instead of in river banks. Riippell was the first to 

 discover this. The breeding season in northeastern Africa is in the 

 months of August and September according to Von Heuglin, but 

 Erlanger ^'^ found a nest on March 17 near Ginir in Arussia-Galla- 

 land. The nest was in an abandoned woodpecker hole about 10 feet 

 up in a broken tree trunk, and contained five fledged young. Bohm 

 found a nest with young and eggs on March 21, and Erlanger writes 

 the breeding season in Shoa, Gallaland, and Somaliland to be from 

 January to March. 



Apparently Mearns collected examples of this kingfisher every- 

 where he saw the species in Ethiopia, but in Kenya Colony he ob- 

 served many in places where he did not take the trouble to procure any. 

 These records are: Tana River, August 15-23, 63 seen; Tana River 

 at mouth of Thika River, August 23-26, 14 noted; Thika River. 

 August 26-27, 24 birds ; west of Ithanga Hills, August 28, 10 ; Athi 

 River, August 29 to September, 72 noted. 



Family MEROPIDAE 



MEROPS NUBICUS NUBICUS Gmelin 



Merops nuhicus Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 464, 1788: Nubia. 



Specimens collected: 



Three males, one female, and one unsexed, Gidabo River, 3,700 

 feet, Ethiopia, March 17. 1912. 



" Journ. f. Ornlth., 1905, p. 448. 



