BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 



453 



tips of only a few central rump feathers) is present in 6 out of 

 15 specimens listed above. Van Someren notes that of 16 specimens 

 examined by him only 5 had any red on the rump. The wings 

 measure 51-58 millimeters, agreeing with a-ffinis rather than with 

 pusillus. 



An examination of the plumage of the present series shows birds 

 in fresh and in worn condition in the same region at the same time. 

 The only fact that I can ascertain about the molting process is that 

 it starts in the wings before it does in the tail, but even this, based 

 on two molting birds, needs further corroboration. The size varia- 

 tions are as follows : 



Locality 



Ethiopia: 



Sadi Malka 



Do 



Do 



Do 



Do 



Bodessa 



Do 



Sagon River.. 



El Ade 



Sadi Malka. _. 



Do 



Do 



Hawash River 



Bodessa 



Sagon River.. 



Erlanger ^^ has suggested that since these birds are so variable 

 with regard to the red rump patch, that it may be that only fully 

 adult birds attain that plumage character. While this is purely 

 an assumption with no basis of facts, nevertheless the numerical 

 ratio of individuals with red on the rump to those without is about 

 what one might expect to find of fully adult (say two years old) 

 birds to younger ones (not counting juvenal birds). 



These little barbets live in the dense underbrush of relatively open 

 forest country. Little is definitely known of their breeding liabits 

 or season, but Erlanger ^° says that in Ethiopia and Somaliland they 

 nest in holes in trees during February and March. 



POGONIULUS PUSILLUS AFFINIS (Rcichenow) 



JidrlxittiJa affhiis Reichenow, Orn. Centralb., 1879, p. 114: Kipini, mouth of 

 the Tana Rivt-r. 



Specimens collected: 



Male. Endoto Mountains, south, Kenya Colony, July 23, 1912. 



sojourn, f. Ornith., 1905, p. 494. 



