BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 93 



cliin, upper throat, malar region, and lores blackish; the centers of 

 the feathers of the throat and breast darker than in lacuum^ and the 

 lo^ver abdomen and the rump darker, somewhat washed with buffy. 

 Neumann ^^ notes that two specimens of lacuum from Sidamo are 

 blackish gray on the chin and upper throat, and are really inter- 

 mediate between it and omoensis. I should call these birds omoensis 

 and not lacuum. It is a little unfortunate that the type locality of 

 laeuum, is so near the southern limits of the range of that form, but, 

 on the other hand, the two races are very distinct and should never 

 be difficult to tell apart. 



In central Africa (from Lake Kivu and the western shores of Lake 

 Tanganyika to southern Angola and to Lake Ngami) a brownish 

 form without white margins on the throat and breast feathers oc- 

 curs — hartJaubii. It appears, on what is now considered to be rather 

 insufficient evidence, that the birds of the eastern Congo may be 

 separable on the basis of slightly darker size, in which case the name 

 ater Friediuami is available for them. 



Besides the present specimen, I have seen two other examples of 

 smifhii, a male from Harrar and an unsexed bird without data. The 

 Harrar bird is slightly darker, especially on the breast and tail, than 

 the Moulu specimen. The former is in fresher plumage than the 

 latter; in fact, it is just finishing the molt, the outermost primary in 

 each wing being still inclosed basally in its sheath. The Moulu bird 

 has noticeably darker imder wing coverts than either the Harrar or 

 the other specimen. Whether this variation is individual or geo- 

 graphical in nature, I can not say without more material. It is a 

 point worth keeping in mind, however. 



Hawker ^^ found this babbler frequenting rocky hills in British 

 Somaliland, where it "went in families and was very noisy." 



TURDOIDES LEUCOPYGIA LACUUM (Neumann) 



FiGUEE 9 



Crateropus smithi lacuum Neumann, BiiU. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 14, p. 15, 1903: 



Alelu, Lake Abas.si, Etliiopia. 

 Specimens collected: 2 males, 1 female, near Aletta, Sidamo, Ethiopia, March 



6, 1912. 



Soft parts : Iris red, bill black, feet gray. 



The characters and range of this form have already been outlined 

 and need not be repeated here. 



The present specimens are in fairly fresh plumage. Their di- 

 mensions are as follows: Males— wing, 110, 114; tail, 105, 111; 

 culmen, 22 ; tarsus, 34, 36 mm. Female— wing, 113 ; tail, 101 ; culmen, 

 21 ; tarsus, 37 mm. 



".Tourn. fiir Orn.. 1006, p. 261. 

 " Ibis, 1899, p. 73. 



