130 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



GEOKICHLA LITSIPSIRUPA SIMENSIS (Ruppell) 



Merula (Turdus) simensis Ruppell, Neue Wirbelthiere, zu der Fauna von 



Abyssinien gehurig, etc., Vogel, p. 81, pi- 29, fig. 1, 1840 : Angethat, Ethiopia. 

 Specimens collected : 



5 males, 3 females, 1 unsexed, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia, December 30, 1911- 

 January 12, 1912. 



1 female, near AnJiober, Ethiopia, January 20, 1912. 



3 males, 1 female, Arussi Plateau, Ethiopia, 7,000-10,000 feet, February 

 17-27, 1912. 



1 male, 1 female, Cofali, Ethiopia, March 2, 1912. 



1 male, near Aletta, Sidamo, Ethiopia, March 6, 1912. 



The ground-scraper thrush is another of those birds that occur in 

 southern Africa (north to the Katanga, Nyasaland, and southwestern 

 Tanganyika Territory) and also in Ethiopia, but not in the interven- 

 ing area. Three forms are recognized, as follows: 



1. G. I. litsipsirupa : Zululand, Transvaal, Orange Free State, and 

 Damaraland north to Southern Rhodesia and southern Angola. 



2. G. I. stierlingl: The Malanje district of northern Angola east 

 through Northern Rhodesia and the Katanga to northern Nyasaland 

 and the Iringa district of Tanganyika Territory. This race, of 

 which I have seen no material, is said to resemble the typical one, 

 but has a shorter bill, the under wing coverts and inner edges of the 

 remiges somewhat darker, and the throat and sides of the body more 

 strongly washed with rusty yellow. 



3. G. I. simensis: Southern Eritrea, Bogosland, and Ethiopia south 

 to Gardula and the Kullo district. Somewhat browner above than 

 Utsipsirupa^ the under wing coverts darker, the bill shorter (as in 

 stierliiigl) , and the under parts more washed with rusty yellow. 



The present specimens are all in rather worn plumage and shoAv 

 considerable variation in color. Some are almost as white below 

 as South African birds while others are very yellowish. Extremely 

 abraded birds ma}^ be as grayish above as typical Utsipsirupa, so care 

 must be used in comparing specimens of the different races. 



The size variations of the 18 birds collected by the Frick expedi- 

 tion are shown in table 26. 



This thrush is a bird of the highlands. Blanford ^* found it to 

 be "common throughout the highlands, but not observed below 5,000 

 or 6,000 feet elevation." In Eritrea, Zedlitz ^^ found it from about 

 7,500 feet up. Erlanger ^^ writes that it lives near water, not being 

 found in arid places. He found a nest with three fresh eggs on 

 March 26 at Gara Mulata near Harrar. The breeding season appears 

 to be later in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea — about June and July. 



^Observations on the geology and zoology of Abyssinia, etc., p. 357, 1870. 

 25 Journ. fur Orn., 1911, p. 76. 

 *» Journ. fiir Orn., 1905, p. 740. 



