BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 65 



none was recorded until the expedition reached the Endoto Moun- 

 tains, July 19-24, when 100 birds were noted; Er-re-re, July 25, 50; 

 Le-se-dun, July 26, 50; Malele and south for 40 miles, July 27-30, 

 200 seen; Northern Guaso Nyiro River, July 31-August 3, 50 birds; 

 Lekiundu River, August 4-8, 100 seen; Guaso Mara River, August 

 9, 10 birds; Tharaka district, August 12-14, 24 birds observed. Tana 

 River, August 15-26, 750 birds; Thika River, August 26-28, 70; 

 between Thika and Athi River, August 29, 100 ; Athi River, August 

 80-31, 50 birds seen. 



Family ORIOLIDAE, Old World Orioles 



ORIOLUS AURATUS NOTATUS Peters 



Oriolus notatus Peters, Journ. fiir Orn., 1S6S, p. 132 : Tete, Zambesi valley. 

 Specimens cotxected : 1 female. Tana River at mouth of Tliika River, Kenya 

 Colony, August 25, 1912. 



This form of the African golden oriole occurs from Damaraland, 

 Angola, Mashonaland, and Mozambique north through Nyasaland 

 throughout Tanganyika Territory to southwestern Uganda and to 

 Tana River and Lamu and to the Juba River in Kenya Colony. In 

 southern Ethiopia, southern Sudan, eastern Uganda, west to Upper 

 Guinea as far as Senegal, it is replaced by typical auratus. Adult 

 males of the two differ in the following respects: The central pair 

 of rectrices are black in both, but the three outer pairs always have a 

 large basal black area in auratus and are pure yellow, with occa- 

 sionally some black on or near the shaft, in notatus; the inner sec- 

 ondaries are more broadly margined with yellow in notatus than in 

 auratus. The adult females can be distinguished by the fact that 

 notatus has broad yellow margins to the outer webs of the inner 

 secondaries. Immature specimens of notatus likewise may be identi- 

 fied from corresponding examples of auratus by the fact that the 

 former have broad yellow edges on the inner secondaries. 



Meinertzhagen ^^ writes that birds from Damaraland are "fre- 

 quently larger than eastern African specimens, but this is by no 

 means constant." Van Someren ^^ compared his series from Kenya 

 Colony and Uganda with Angolan birds and found the former to be 

 smaller, "the eastern birds having wings of $ 130-137, 9 130- 

 135 mm., the western birds $ 140-147, 9 135-145 mm. As we have 

 no Nyasaland birds, I am unable to say which are typical." If the 

 eastern, smaller, birds are the typical ones, as seems likely, Bocage's 

 name anderssoni*^ is available for the southwestern larger ones. 

 Four birds from General Machado, Angola, are not larger than 

 others from East Africa. 



" Ibis, 1923, p. 03. 



^'Nov. Zool., vol. 20, p. 126, 1922. 



*8Jorn. Sci. Nat. Lisboa, vol. 2, p. 342, 1870: Damaraland. 



