BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 163 



PHYLLOSCOPUS COLLYBITA COLLYBITA (Vieillot) 



Sylvia collyMta Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., vol. 11, p. 235, 1817 : France. 

 Specimens collected: 



1 female, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia, December 30, 1911. 



1 female, Sadi Malka, Ethiopia, February 1, 1912. 



1 male, Arussi Plateau, Ethiopia, February 20, 1912. 



The chiffchaff winters in Africa south to northern Somaliland, 

 southern Ethiopia, the Bahr el Ghazal, Darfur, the Gold Coast, 

 and Senegal. It does not occur in Kenya Colony, 



In Ethiopia it occurs together with the willow warbler, which it 

 resembles so greatly in appearance. Erlanger *^ found it common 

 from November to March together with P. trochilus in northern 

 Somaliland, and very abundant in Djamdjam in December. 

 Strangely enough, Neumann did not meet with it, but only with 

 trochilus. Zedlitz *^ writes that collyhita is an abundant winter 

 visitor along the Red Sea coastal belt in Eritrea but that it is much 

 scarcer in the highlands of the interior of that country and of 

 northern Ethiopia, where it occurs chiefly as a migrant. 



The paler, northern race, ahietina, also occurs in Ethiopia and 

 occasionally wanders south into Kenya Colony. 



SEICERCUS UMBROVIRENS OMOENSIS (Neumann) 



Cryptolopha umbrovirens omoensis Neiumann, Jouru. fiir Oru., 1905, p. 208 : 



Banka, Malo, Ethiopia. 

 Specimens collected: 



2 females, Arussi Plateau, 9,000 feet, Ethiopia, February 20-29, 1912. 

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



It is rather difficult to decide where to draw specific lines in the 

 African forms of Seicercus. The present species contains at least 

 five races as correctly stated by Neiunann, but whether ivilhelmi 

 Gyldenstolpe ** and alpina Ogilvie-Grant *^ are to be considered 

 specifically distinct from the umbrovirens group is an open question. 

 They have been usually granted specific standing, and in the absence 

 of sufficient material, I do not care to propose any change but merely 

 take the opportunity to point out the very close apparent relation- 

 ships of these birds. 



In Ethiopia and Kenya Colony (and immediately adjacent parts 

 of Uganda, Tanganyika Territory, and Eritrea) there are five valid 

 subspecies, as follows : 



1. S. u. umbrovirens (Riippell) : The drainage basin of the Blue 

 Nile to Lake Tsana and the Simien Mountains, Ethiopia. This form 



««Journ. fOr Orn., 1905, p. 736. 



« Journ. fUr Oru., 1911, p. 70. 



" Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 43, p. 37, 1922 : Mount Muhavuia, Birunga Volcanoes. 



♦'Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, Tol, 18, p. 117, 1906: Ruwenzori. 



