BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 55 



Species. It may be that arabica and pusilla do not actually occur 

 side by side, in which case it would be possible to put all these 

 forms in one specific group — ohsoleta. 



In Darfur, Kordofan, and northern Nubia pusilla breeds in mid- 

 winter and molts in April and May. In Kenya Colony and Tan- 

 ganyika Territory, rufigvia nests from January to May and molts 

 in May and June. 



Mearns made the following entries about this swallow in his note- 

 books : Plains south and at base of Endoto Mountains, July 19-24, 

 220 birds seen; Northern Guaso Nj'iro River, July 31, 4 noted; 

 Lekiundu River, August 4-8, 20 seen. 



PSALIDOPROCNE HOLOMELAENA MASSAICA Neumann 



Psalidoprocne holomelaena massaica Neumann, Orn. Monatsb., 1904, p. 144: 



Kikuyu, Kenya Colony. 

 Specimens collected : 1 male, Meru Forest, Kenya Colony, August 9, 1912. 



This saw-winged swallow is currently considered as comprising 

 two geographic races, the typical South African form and the East 

 A f rican massaica, which differs from the former in having the sheen 

 of the plumage more oily brownish green. In southern holoTnelaena 

 the green color is well marked on the crown and nape; in massaica 

 it averages less pronounced there. The differences, however, are 

 very slight, and I agree with Gyldenstolpe,^ who writes that when 

 a large quantity of material "is available for examination, it seems 

 highly possible that this distinction will prove to be of no value 

 for the separation of an East African race." On the other hand, 

 it must be remembered that rather slight color differences in this 

 genus appear to be constant enough in many cases to warrant their 

 usage as specific characters. The color of the mider wing coverts 

 does not hold as a racial criterion, although it was on this character 

 that Neumann originally described massaica. I have examined a 

 series of 20 massaica and 2 Jiolomelaena and find the darkness or 

 lightness of the under wing coverts to be individually variable. 



The range of massaica, as far as known, is from the IJluguru and 

 Usambara Mountains, Tanganyika Territory, west to the eastern 

 Belgian Congo (Kivu district), north through Ruanda, Urundi, 

 Ruwenzori, Uganda, and Kenj^a Colony approximately to the Equa- 

 tor. Meru, north of Mount Kenya, and Mount Elgon appear to be 

 the northern limits of its range. Lonnberg ^ first recorded it from 

 Meru, and the present specimen is the second from that locality. 



8 Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1924, p. 230. 

 » Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1911, p. 79. 



