490 



BULLETIN" 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Hartert ^^ recorded a bird collected by Ansorge at Nairobi as 

 schoensis and since then many writers have claimed Nairobi as the 

 southern limit of the range of this race, but as Van Someren and 

 others have shown, the birds of the Ukamba and southern Kikuyu 

 district (in the latter of which Nairobi is situated) are intergrades 

 between schoensis and namaquus (or, in other words, semischoensls 

 or intermedius) . 

 The size variations of the series collected are tabulated below. 



The bearded woodpecker is a lowland bird, and consequently 

 "the northern limit of its range presents a much hollowed out appear- 

 ance, the southward extending concavity enclosing the highlands 

 of the Arussi country and of Shoa where the species does not occur. 

 Neumann ^^ found it common in the Acacia country around Lakes 

 Zwai and Abaya. Erlanger -* found it chiefly along the river banks 

 in northern Somaliland, living among the the acacias and euphorbias. 

 In the vicinity of Daua and Ganale it occurred in tlie thin palm 

 forests, while in the Shoan lakes district, he found it around the 

 edges of the forest. 



The Sagon River specimen and three of the birds from the Gato 

 River are in molt. Among the latter are a mated pair (according 

 to the collector), a fact that suggests the breeding season to be in 

 spring. Erlanger's -' observations confirm this as he writes that 

 the nesting time is in May and June. According to Heuglin the 

 molting season is in July and August, but neither of the August 

 birds (from Kenya Colony, however) is in molt. However, as 

 Zedlitz-° has shown, although Erlanger's observations as to the 



22 Nov. Zool., vol. 7, 1900, p. 33. 

 =3Journ. f. Ornith., 1004, pp. 397-398. 

 ^-i Id. m, 1905, p. 475. 

 » Idem, 1915, pp. 18-19. 



