62 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



2 immature females, Bodessa, Ethiopia, May 27-29, 1912. 



1 adult male, Sagou River, Ethiopia, June 3, 1912. 



1 immature male, Tertale, Ethiopia, Juue 10, 1912. 



1 immature female, Turturo, Ethiopia, June 15, 1912. 



1 adult male, Wobok, Ethiopia, June 18, 1912. 



1 immature female, Endoto Mountains, Kenya Colony, July 24, 1912. 



1 adult male, 1 immature male, Lekiundu River, Kenya Colony, August 



4-6, 1912. 

 1 adult male, Tharaka district, Kenya Colony, August 12, 1912. 

 1 immature male, 3 immature females. Tana River, Kenya Colony, August 



15-26, 1912. 



Soft parts : Immature female — iris red, feet and bill black. Adult 

 male — iris cherry red ; bill, feet, and claws black. 



Of this race of the common African drongo, the following are 

 synonyms : Dicrurus fugax Peters ^^ and Edolius lugubris Hemprich 

 and Ehrenberg.^^ 



According to Sclater,^* Reichenow's mumneri (not munzeri as 

 given by Sclater) is probably the same as divarlcatus. 



Bannerman^^ recognizes three subspecies of D. adsimilis, as does 

 also Sclater. They are as follows: 



1. D. a. adsimilis: South Africa north to the Limpopo River. 

 Characterized by its large size (wings, 131-141 mm). 



2. D. a. divaricatiis : Rhodesia, Angola, and Mozambique north to 

 Ethiopia, the Sudan, and Senegal, but exclusive of the coastal dis- 

 tricts of Upper Guinea from Sierra Leone to Togoland. Similar to 

 adsimilis but smaller (wings, 115-136 mm). 



3. D. a. atactus: The coastal districts of Upper Guinea from Sierra 

 Leone to the Gold Coast and Togoland. This race is characterized 

 by its deep velvety-blue sheen, less greenish blue than in either of 

 the other two forms, and by having the lining of the remiges uni- 

 formly dark; size intermediate between adsifnilis and divariccMyjs, 

 wings averaging 128 mm (the variational range given by Bannerman 

 is 122-138 mm, but the type, which I have examined, has a wing 

 length of only 117 mm). 



Recently van Someren ^^ has described a fourth race jubaen-sls, 

 characterized by its short tail. 



Some writers have claimed that the birds of coastal East Africa 

 (from southern Kenya Colony to Inhambane) average smaller than 

 inland birds and are thus worth recognizing as D. a. fugax. Van 

 Someren ^^ and Gyldenstolpe ^^ are among those who find fugax to 

 be constantly small in size. I have seen one bird from Lumbo, Mo- 



'2Journ. fur Orn., 1868, p. 132: Inhambane. 



»=> Symbolae physlcae, etc., folio S, pi. 8, fig. 3, 1828 : Dongola. 



" Systema avium ^lithiopicarum, pt. 2, p. 594, 1930. 



alibis, 1920, pp. 440-444. 



»» Journ. East Africa and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, no. 37, p. 196, July 1931 : Juba River. 



^ Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 125, 1922. 



«Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Hand!.. 1924, pp. 20-21. 



