468 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



4; Athi River to Donio Sabuk, August 29, 10 individuals; Juja 

 Farm, Athi River, August 30, 4 birds; stream near the Athi River, 

 August 31, 2 seen. 



The black-throated honey-guide ranges from sea level to altitudes 

 of as much as 8,000 feet (2,400 meters) on Mount Elgon (see 

 Granvik)."^ On Kilimanjaro, Sjostedt records it only up to 1,900 

 meters (approximately 6,000 feet). I know of no record of this 

 bird high up on Mount Kenia or on Ruwenzori, a thing which sug- 

 gests that the encircling band of forest around the lower parts of 

 these mountains acts as a barrier to the bird, which is characteris- 

 tically a thornbush country form. Zedlitz ^^ writes that in Eritrea 

 and northern Ethiopia this bird occurs in the wooded areas (probably 

 not true, dense forests). It is very common in the Tacazze area 

 in the thorny thickets of Adiaboland, and also occurs in the eastern 

 escarpment of the Ethiopian plateau, but not commonly. 



It is parasitic in its breeding habits, victimizing barbets and starl- 

 ings. According to Erlanger °^ the breeding season in Ethiopia is 

 from January to April. 



INDICATOR VARIEGATUS VARIEGATUS Lesson 



Indicator variegatus Lesson, Traite p. 155, 1831 : Africa. 



/Specimens collected: 



Thiee females, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, April 11-24, 

 1912. 



With the limited series available for study I can not do better 

 than to follow Sclater's arrangement of the scaly-throated honey- 

 guides.'^*' However, it seems that the birds of soutliern Ethiopia 

 and northern Kenya Colony are not always typical 'variegatus but 

 sometimes produce intermediates between that form an<l jiihacnsis. 

 The present birds, however, are not intermediate. Wlicn Neumann 

 described the latter form ^^ he compared southern Somaliland birds 

 with a series from Ethiopia as well as from South and Enxt, Africa, 

 so it would appear that in his opinion Ethiopian birds ara of t]ie 

 nominate form, and the small jubaensis (wings 97-103 millimeters 

 as against 105-114 millimeters in variegatus) is restricted to south- 

 ern Italian Somaliland. I have seen two male specimens from the 

 Tana River (one from latitude 0° 12' south, longitude 38° 11' east, 

 the other, latitude 0° 25' south, longitude 38° 0' east, both in the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology) which have wing lengths of 100 



«'Journ. f. Oinith., 1923, Sonderheft, p. 83. 



"sidcm, 1910, p. 744. 



""Idem, 1905, p. 467. 



" Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, pp. 287-288. 



""■ Bull. Biit. Orn. CI., vol. 21, 1908, p. 97 : Jonte, near Kismayu. 



