492 



BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



found on the western escarpment of the plateau country of Eritrea 

 and Ethiopia and occurs lower down to Sennar and the Blue Nile. 



M. g. centralis occurs south to Bukoba, Tanganyika-Uganda 

 border. Van Someren -^ records it from as far east as Baringo in 

 Kenya Colony. Reichenow ^° writes that spodocephalus occurs south 

 to Lake Victoria and records a specimen from Baringo. This was 

 shown to be incorrect by Neumann ^^ who, however, refers the 

 Baringo bird to rhodeog aster. It appears, therefore, that rhodeo- 

 gaster and centralis meet (and may intergrade) in the country be- 

 tween Baringo and Elgon. The latter form extends into Turkana- 

 land where it reaches its northeastern limit.^^ 



The present race lives in the mountains of Ethiopia (from Shoa 

 and Gallaland to the Harrar range, north to Eritrea) at altitudes of 

 from 6,000 to 10,500 feet, and is commoner near the higher, rather 

 than the lower, limits of its range. The breeding season is in early 

 spring. Erlanger ^^ found a nest with one young in the Harrar 

 district on April 9. 



All the birds collected are in rather abraded plumage, a fact 

 which, when considered in conjunction with Erlanger's notes on the 

 reproductive season, indicates that this species breeds in worn 

 plumage. This in turn suggests that there is but one complete 

 annual molt — the postnuptial. 



Young birds resemble adults but have the upper back more 

 brownish, less golden yellow, and the breast, flanks, abdomen, and 

 under tail coverts faintly barred with greenish white, and pale 

 greenish gray, and have the red midventral patch only slightly de- 

 veloped. I have seen this plumage only in centralis and rhodeo- 

 gaster, but Ogilvie-Grant ^* records it for spodocephalus as well. 



The present series is quite uniform in color, but shows consider- 

 able variation in size, as may be seen from the following 

 measurements : 



2»Nov. Zool., TOl. 29, 1922, p. G6. 



™Vog. Afr., vol. 2, p. 188. 



'^ Jour. f. Ornith., 1904, p. 397. 



=° See Van Somcicn, Journ. E. Afr. and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, No. 16, 1921, p. 33. 



"Journ. f. Ornith., 1905, p. 473. 



"Ibis, 1900, p. 304. 



