BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 357 



One male and one female, Reishat, Lake Rudolf, Kenya Colony, 

 May 25, 1912. 



The carmine bee eater inhabits most of Africa south of the Sahara 

 Desert. It has been differentiated into two races, the typical one 

 with the chin and throat deep greenish blue like the top of the head, 

 and the southern nubicoides which has the chin and throat rosy 

 carmine like the rest of the underparts. The two forms are so very 

 distinct that they might be considered species instoad of races, and 

 as far as I know, no intermediates are known. However, they are 

 more closely related to each other than to any other species of 

 Merops and as a trinomial serves in this case to illustrate the degree 

 of affinity there is nothing to be gained in reverting to binomial 

 treatment. 



In the course of this study I have examined a series of 36 speci- 

 mens of nuhicus and two of nubicoides and can not add anything to 

 the ranges of the two as given by Grant °^ or by Sclater.^*^ The 

 typical form occurs as far south as the Rufiji River, Tanganyika 

 Territory, in eastern Africa, and apparently no specimens have been 

 recorded from anj^where in the southern part of Tanganyika Ter- 

 ritory. The red-throated nubicoides has not been reported north of 

 Mozambique, the Zambesi Valley, and Nyasaland. 



The size variations are as follows (in millimeters) : 



Twenty males: Wing M3.5-160 (150); tail, 168-207 (181); cul- 

 men 35-13 (41.7). Fifteen females: Wing, 145-150 (148), tail 

 168-191 (178); culmen, 37-40 (38.5). 



The middle tail feathers exceed the others in length by from 

 65-100 millimeters. 



Erlanger ^^ has given a detailed account of the plumages of the 

 young and adult of this bee eater. His account is upheld by the 

 material I have seen, but the colors of the figures in his plate, par- 

 ticularly of the adult in fresh plumage (Fig. 1) are not quite cor- 

 rect. The head and throat are darker, more bluish than in his 

 figure, the red of the upper back, wings, and underparts should be 

 deeper, brighter carmine, and the inner secondaries are less pure 

 green, more ashy bluish gi'een than in his plate, about half way 

 between the colors of those feathers in Figures 1 and 2. 



This species is widely distributed in the area under consideration 

 in this report but does not occur far from water. It is more gre- 

 garious than the other members of its group, and this habit, together 

 with its bright coloration, make it conspicuous and therefore fre- 

 quently recorded. Rilppell found it in flocks and Von Heuglin 



0= Ibis. 1915, p. SOO. 



»« Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 220. 



»'Jourii. f. Ornith., 1905, p. 453, and pi. 9. 



