BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 477 



the fact that the former has the chin and throat abundantly spotted 

 with black, while the latter has these parts immaculate. By this time 

 (1915) Zedlitz ^' and others who had previously questioned the valid- 

 ity of pallida were convinced of its validity, and we may, therefore, 

 no longer concern ourselves with that race. We have left, then, 

 nuhica (with neumanni and scriptoricauda as synonyms or distinct 

 races) and albifacies. Van Someren ^^ found that scriptoncauda 

 (characterized by having spots on the chin and throat, and by hav- 

 ing the mandible yellow, not dusky as in nuhica) occurred together 

 with pallida over a large area without intergrading, and could not 

 therefore be looked upon as conspecific with the latter. He accord- 

 ingly, and correctly, in my opinion, raised the former to specific rank. 

 The southern albifacies he considered a race of scriptoricauda. How- 

 ever, he concluded that 7ieumanni was a valid form of nubica and so 

 reopened that angle of the problem. His remarks are instructive 

 and may be quoted at this point. 



In a variable species such as this it is difficult to define races. There are, 

 however, certain characters by which, in large series, one can admit * * * 

 races * * *. when a series of birds from Abyssinia, Somaliland, Sudan, 

 Uganda, and East Africa is laid out, it will be noticed that those taken in East 

 Africa from Kavirondo south to Nairobi are dark birds, this being due to the fact 

 that the great majority are spotted on the back, not barred or with spear- 

 shaped spots. The northern birds I place as G. nubica nuhica, those of East 

 Africa, within certain limits, as C. nuhica neummini * * *. 



It is unfortunate that he does not refer to Erlanger's work, as it is 

 quite impossible to tell whether he took plumage wear into account or 

 not. 



To bring this summary to a hurtled close, it may suffice to say that 

 Gyldenstolpe ^^ and Sclater ^ both reject neumanni and place it in 

 the synonymy of nubica. In the long series examined by me, indi- 

 viduals of both types occur together from one end of the range of the 

 species to the other, and in every case the birds fitting the description 

 of neumanni are in old, worn plumage. The material is extensive, 

 and when taken in conjunction with that studied by Sclater, Gylden- 

 stolpe, and others, is amply sufficient to settle once and for all the 

 status of neufnanni. It is a pure synonjnn of nubica. Recently - 

 Sclatef has found that albifacies is a synonym of scriptoricauda (as 

 is also aureicuspis) ^ and suggests that the latter be regarded as a 

 race of nubica, apparently overlooking the facts recorded by Van 

 Someren which show it to be specifically distinct. The fact that 

 n£.U7nan7ii is but the abraded plumage stage of nubica accounts for 

 Neumann's statement that he found the two together at Kwa Kitoto. 



sojourn, f. Ornith., vol. 63, p. 17. 



»«Nov. Zool., vol. 29, 1922, pp. 62-63. 



«»Kui)gl. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handlgr., 1924, pp. 281-233. 



1 Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 295. 



a Bull. Brit. Gin. CI., vol. 46, 1925, p. 14. 



