BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 



77 



white color increases with age, although even in young birds it is 

 definitely whitish. 



Young birds have the entire head and underparts, as well as the 

 upper back, rusty light seal brown instead of black, with a deep blue 

 sheen as in adults. Seven of the present 13 specimens are molting 

 from the brown to the black plumage. Kleinschmidt found that 

 birds molting the remiges were collected from as early as January 

 16 to as late as July 26. It is therefore in keeping with his obser- 

 vations to find that the present series, taken in June and July, are 

 likewise in molt. 



The size variations are considerable and are shown in table 11. 



The measurements given by Kleinschmidt indicate that the western 

 birds (Lake Rudolf region) have much shorter tails than do typical 

 edithae (from Somaliland and southeastern Ethiopia), the caudal 

 measurements given for the latter group ranging from 185 to 205 

 mm in the males and 185 to 195 mm in the females. I have seen four 

 typical edithae and find them to have tails measuring 163, 170, 175, 

 and 179 mm, respectively, so the two groups can not be separated 

 nomenclaturally. 



This bird occurs in British Somaliland, south through the Hawash 

 district of Ethiopia, Arussi-Gallaland, and Italian Somaliland to the 

 Lake Rudolf country in northern Kenya Colony and the immediately 

 adjacent parts of extreme southern Shoa (Yebo and Chaffa). It 

 does not appear to have been recorded previously from southern Shoa 

 and, for that matter, has been taken but once before on Lake Rudolf. 



Mearns made the following entries of this crow in his notebooks: 

 Yebo, June 19, 4 seen; Karsa Barecha, June 21, noted. Malata, June 

 22, 4 birds; Chaffa villages, June 23-25, 60; Hor, June 26-30, 1,000 



Table 11. — Measurements of 13 specimens of Corvus corax edithae 



I Molting. 



