BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 477 



EMBERIZA HORTULANA Linnaeus 



Emberiza hortulana Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 177, 1758 : Europe ; Sweden 



apud Hartei't. 

 Specimens collected: 



1 adult male, 1 immature male, 1 immature female, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia, 

 December 30, 1911-Jauuary 7, 1912. 



2 adult males, Hakaki, Ethiopia, January 14, 1912. 

 1 adult male, Alaltu, Ethiopia, January 17, 1912. 



The ortolan bunting breeds in Europe and winters in northern 

 tropical Africa south to northern Kenya Colony. The species is rela- 

 tively less numerous in northern Kenya Colony and extreme southern 

 Ethiopia than in the central and northern portions of the latter 

 country. Neumann ^° found it abundant around Adis Abeba in the 

 last days of September but did not see it south of the Tlawash River. 

 Zedlitz ^^ found it in swarms in the highlands of the Eritrean- 

 Abyssinian border, but not in the lower savannahs. In Darfur, 

 Lynes ^^ noted that this bunting arrived from the north in mid- 

 October and left early in March. 



Although this bird winters in western Africa, as well as in the 

 eastern side of the continent, the migrations seem to follow an eastern 

 and a western route with a wide gap in between them. 



FRINGILLARIA TAHAPISI TAHAPISI (Smith) 



Emberiza tahapisi A. Smith, Report of the expedition for exploring central 

 Africa, p. 48, 1836 : Sources of the Vaal River, i. e., southeastern Transvaal. 



Specimens collected: 



1 adult female, Gidabo River, Ethiopia, March 17, 1912. 



3 adult males, 2 immature males, 5 adult females, Bodessa, Ethiopia, May 

 22-31, 1912. 



1 immature male, Northern Guaso Nyiro River, Kenya Colony, August 3, 

 1912. 



2 adult males, 2 adult females, Tana River at mouth of Thika River, 

 Kenya Colony, August 23-24, 1912. 



I have seen no material of the north Ethiopian race septemstriuta 

 and therefore can not tell whether the Gidabo River specimen ap- 

 proaches that form. I feel confident that it is best referred to 

 tahapisi, as it agrees very closely with the rest of the series. The 

 northern race is said to have much rufous on the inner web of the 

 first primary, but the Gidabo River bird has none, thereby agreeing 

 with the more southern ones. 



The arrangement of subspecies and their ranges as given by 

 Sclater °^ is substantiated by the material available for study. It 

 is rather strange that typical tahapisi should cover so enormous a 



•» Journ. flir Orn., 1905, p. 358. 



■» Journ. flir Orn., 1911, p. 42. 



82 Ibis, 1924, p. 684. 



"Systema avium ^thiopicarum, pt. 2, p. 831, 1930. 



