90 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



ANTHOSCOPUS MUSCULUS (Hartlaub) 



Aegithalus musculus Haetlaub, Orn. Centralbl., 1882, p. 91 : Lado ; see Jouru. 

 fiir Orn., 1882, p. 236. 



Specimens collected: 



1 male, Tertale, Ethiopia, June 11, 1912. 



1 female, Northern Guaso Nyiro River, Kenya Colony, August 1, 1912. 



1 female, Lekiundu River, Kenya Colony, August 6, 1912. 



This species occurs from the Upper White Nile east to the Hawash 

 Valley and Somaliland, south through Kenya Colony to the Taveta 

 district, in the semiarid thornbush steppe country only, not in the 

 highlands of central and southwestern Kenya Colony. 



Van Someren ^ writes that topotypical musculus differ from east- 

 ern specimens in being paler below, "less creamy white on the throat 

 and chin, and much less deep buff on the abdomen." More recently ^ 

 he writes that birds from Archers Post, Kenya Colony, "cannot be 

 placed accurately without comparison with typical birds." Unfor- 

 tunately, I have no western, typical material for comparison, but 

 some of the eastern specimens seen have only a very pale buffy tinge 

 on the abdomen, so it seems that there may not be any constant dif- 

 ference between them and typical musculus. 



The three specimens obtained by the Frick expedition are in worn 

 plumage. Their dimensions are as follows: Male — wing, 47; tail, 

 21.5 ; culmen, 8 ; tarsus, 13 mm. Females — wing, 46.5, 49.5 ; tail, 25.5, 

 28 ; culmen, 8, 8 ; tarsus, 12, 12 mm. 



Lonnberg ^° shot a bird on February 27 at Njoro, north of the 

 Northern Guaso Nyiro River, and found it to be in breeding 

 condition. 



This bird appears to be fairly widely distributed in Ethiopia, as 

 Erlanger " obtained specimens at Gumbo werin, between Zeila and 

 Djeldessa; at Tschoba, between Harrar and Adis Abeba; in Djamd- 

 jam; in Gurraland; in the Garre-Lewin district; and at Anole, be- 

 tween Bardera and Umfudu. 



Van Someren ^^ has recently described the birds of northern Kenya 

 Colony under the name A. m. guasso (type locality, Archers Post), 

 on the basis of smaller size and the absence of the olive tinge to the 

 mantle. If guasso be valid (the material available for study does not 

 indicate it, but my series is small), the present specimens would 

 have to be referred to it. 



• Nov. ZooL, vol. 29, p. 204, 1922. 



9 Journ. East Africa and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, no. 35, p. 66 (142), 1930. 



i»Kongl. Sven.ska Vet.-Al^ad. Handl., 1911, p. 120. 



"Journ. fiir Orn., 1907, p. 53. 



12 Not. Zool., vol. 37, p. 359. 1932. 



