BIRDS OP ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 473 



Gardula, south of Lake Abaya. The two localities are approxi- 

 mately 200 miles apart in a line running almost due northeast. 



The other specimen, taken by Erlanger at Daroli River near Ginir, 

 Arussi-Gallaland, is the easternmost of the three. If yeasei be a good 

 race (and I recognize it merely to conform with Sclater's list until 

 I can prove that it is not) , the distribution of the two eastern forms 

 would be as follows : 



1. P. r. regiilus. — Natal, ISIozambique, Rhodesia, Angola, north 

 through east Africa to the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and the eastern 

 part of the Hawash basin in Ethiopia. 



2. P. T. peasei. — The Shoan lakes area from Gardula north to Unji 

 and east to the Daroli River in Arussi-Gallaland. 



The western, Cameroon race, camerunensls^ I have not seen, and, 

 at any rate, it need not concern us here. 



Further evidence against the validity of feasei is given by Claude 

 Grant ^° who writes that — 



* * * The series in tlie Britisli Museum collection sliows that some varia- 

 tion occurs in the markings of the tail, some specimens having pure white under 

 [outer] tail feathers, others having broad tips and even having the darli color 

 running up the edge of the inner webs, these variations being found in the same 

 locality. 



It would therefore appear that one of the characters given by Mr. Ogilvie- 

 Grant for his Prodotiscus peasli * * * is of little or no value, and the 

 central tail feathers are not lighter than some specimens of P. regidus; but as 

 the wing measures jn the single type specimen 83 millimeters as against 80 

 to 75 millimeters in P. rcgulus, P. peasii may prove to be a somewhat larger 

 race confined to northeast Africa. 



The specimen obtained by Mearns is intermediate in size, its 

 measurements being, wing 81.5, tail 54, culmen 11.5, and tarsus 12 

 millimeters. Five males from Natal (H. Friedmann collection) 

 have wings from 78 to 81 millimeters in length. It may be that 

 peasei is valid, but I feel that its validity depends chiefly on the ab- 

 sence of adequate series. 



The figure of peasei given by Ogilvie-Grant ^^ is too dark on the 

 upi^er parts (at least when compared with the present specimen, 

 which is less dusky), and slightly too grayish on the tail. 



The only field notes on the bird are the meagre ones of its original 

 discoverer, Alfred E, Pease,^- who merely says that this honey 

 guide was only seen but once, in very dense thorn jungle. 



Nothing is known of the breeding habits of any form of Prodotis- 

 cus. In South Africa, regulus is migratory; whether peasei is also 

 is an open question. 



80 Ibis, 1915, pp. 436-437. 

 8' Idem, 1901, pi. 13. 

 sudem, 1901, p. 667. 



