464 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



TRACHYPHONUS DARNAUDII BOHMI Fischer and Reichcnow 



Trachyphonus hohmi Fischer and Reichenow, Journ. f. Ornith., 1884, p. 179: 

 Barawa, Juba River. 



Specimens collected: 



One male, 18 miles southwest of Hor, Kenya Colony, Jiih" 1. 1912. 



One male, Nyiro Mountains, Indunumara Mountains, Kenya 

 Colony, July 13, 1912. 



Two females, Endoto Mountains, Kenya Colony, July 20-22, 1912. 



One male, Tharaka district, Kenya Colony, August 14, 1912. 



Two males, one female. Tana River, camp No. 3, Kenya Colony, 

 August 16, 1912. 



T. darnaudii breaks up into four currently recognized races, while 

 a fifth {zedlitzi) is recognized by some authors and not by others. 

 Twenty examples of all four races have been examined. 



1. T. d. darnaudii. — Sclater ^° gives the range of this race as Kor- 

 dofan, upper White Nile, and Shoa to the Rift Valley in Kenya 

 Colony. Zedlitz,*^^ on the other hand, writes " N.- und W.- Abes- 

 sinien." Inasmuch as specimens are known from northwestern Ethi- 

 opia as well as from the adjacent parts of the Sudan, the range as 

 far as known at present should read : Kordof an, east to northwestern 

 Ethiopia, south through the basin of the upper White Nile, western 

 Ethiopia and Shoa to the western border of the Rift Valley in Ken- 

 ya, as far as Nyarondo and Lake Baringo, in Kenya Colony, and 

 Nile Province, Masindi, Moroto, and Kerio, in Uganda. 



Berger ^^ separated the birds of the Lake Baringo region under 

 the name zedlitzi. The characters on which this race was based are 

 (1) slightly larger size (2) more strongly developed red on the head, 

 and (3) smaller, less noticeable black throat spot than in darnaudii. 

 Zedlitz '^'^ recognizes this form, but Van Someren ^^ writes that the 

 variation is so extensive as to make it difficult to say whether zedlitzi 

 is really distinct. Sclater *'° considers it a synonym of darnaudii, 

 Claude Grant ^^ apparently overlooked zedlitzi entirely. I have put 

 the above on record to show that published opinions as to merits of 

 zedlitzi are far from uniform. We may now produce some other 

 evidence in favor of this race. Erlanger*'^ in discussing the race 

 hdhTTii, writes that young birds have the black throat spot smaller 

 than in adults, sometimes only slightly developed. Red tips to the 

 feathers of the throat and breast are signs of old birds in nuptial 



^•Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924. p. 286. 



<" Journ. f. Ornith., 1915, p. 17. 



«=Iclcm, 191], p. .512. 



«3Nov. Zool., vol. 29, 1922. pp. 60-61. 



8' Ibis. 1915. pp. 450-451. 



«» Journ. f. Ornith.. 1005, pp. 470-471. 



