BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 251 



ANTHUS CAMPESTRIS CAMPESTRIS (Linnaeus) 



Alauda campestris Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 166, 1758: Europe; Sweden 



apud Hartert. 

 Specimens collected: 2 females, 1 iinsexed, Hawash River, Ethiopia, February 



&-9, 1912. 



The tawny pipit winters regularly in northeastern Africa as far 

 south as Tsavo in southern Kenya Colony, and west through Darfur 

 to the Lake Chad region. 



Blanford ^^ met with it only in the highlands of northern Ethiopia, 

 Avhere it was "abundant in grassy meadows. A. cervinus appeared 

 to replace it on cultivated land." However, it occurs lower down as 

 well, but chiefly to the west rather than to the east, of the highland 

 region. It may be that occasional individuals of the eastern race, 

 oriseus, occur in the Ethiopian-Somali lowlands, as the form has 

 been taken at Aden, Arabia. The present three individuals are 

 clearly of the typical race, as their size measurements show : Wing, 

 90-94.5; tail, 70-71; culmen, 19.0-19.5; tarsus, 25-26 mm. 



One of the females is much paler than either of the other birds. 

 It is in fresher plumage, but all three are abraded. 



ANTHUS NICHOLSONI HARARENSIS Neumann 



Anthus nicholsom hararensis Neumann, Journ. fiir Orn., 1906, p. 233 : Abu Bekr, 



near Harrar. 

 Specimens collected: 



1 adult male, Gada Bourca, Ethiopia, December 25, 1911. 



1 adult female, no locality, March 2, 1912(7). 



Hartert,^* Sclater,*^ and others have claimed that the correct name 

 of the present species is Anthus sordidus and not A. nicholsoni, as 

 Neumann ^^ and van Someren ®^ have concluded. However, all pre- 

 vious workers appear to have overlooked the fact that Anthus 

 sordidus Riippell ^^ is preoccupied by Anthus sordidus Lesson ^^ 

 which, in turn, is a synonym of Centrites niger (Boddaert). The 

 oldest name available for the group is nicholsoni Sharpe. The 

 northern Ethiopian race, hitherto known as sordidus^ is thus without 

 a name, but inasmuch as it is said to be only doubtfully distinguish- 

 able from hararensis^ I do not care to propose a substitute name for 



^ Observations on the geology and zoology of Abyssinia, etc., pp. 383-384, 1870. 



«Nov. Zool., vol. 24, pp. 457-458, 1917. 



^ Systema avium ^tliiopicarum, pt. 2, p. 341, 1930. 



s« Journ. fiir Orn., 1906, p. 232. 



"Nov. Zool., vol. 29, pp. 180-181, 1922. 



«8 Neue Wirbelthiere, etc., Vogel, p. 103, pi. 39, fig. 1, 1840 : Simien Province. 



** Voyage autour du monde ... la Coquille; pendant les ann6s 1822-25, Zoologle, 

 vol. 1, pt. 2 (livr. 15), p. 664, 1830: Near Talcahuano, province of Concepcion, Chile. 

 Type in Paris Museum. 



