BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 257 



the bird wading in the shallow waters of Lake Jipe, which fact, to- 

 gether with the unfeathered condition of the lower half of the tibiae, 

 led him to consider it as a passerine shorebird. However, the species 

 is now known to be a denizen of arid thornbiish country, and it prob- 

 ably does not come near water to any extent. There is no reason to 

 believe that it does not bathe when an opportunity presents itself, and 

 it was probably on such an occasion that Katona got his specimen. 



The plumage of the adult male is unique among pipits in combin- 

 ing the general preponderance of yellow of the genus Budytes with 

 the black gorget and rectricial and remigial areas of the genus Mota- 

 cilla, while the plumage of the female and of immature males is like 

 that of the genus Anthus. The genus Tmetothylacus has often been 

 considered as closely related to Maoronyx, but I can see no good rea- 

 son for this. The color combination of yellow underparts with a 

 black pectoral band is certainly not sufficient to warrant any such 

 conclusion. If we examine the plumages of the golden pipit from a 

 biogenetic viewpoint, it appears that Anthus is more primitive than 

 Budytes or Motacilla^ a conclusion that is supported by distributional 

 evidence as well as by plumage characters. 



The sequence of plumages in this species is still rather poorly 

 understood. Taking the present series as a basis, and also utilizing 

 the valuable notes recorded by Reichenow,® van Someren,^ and others, 

 I come to the following results : 



The male goes through a sequence of three plumages; the female 

 of two. The two sexes may therefore be considered separately. 



1. Males. — Juvenal plumage : Upperparts, head, back, upper wing 

 coverts, rump, and upper tail coverts fuscous medially, laterally 

 broadly edged with pale grayish brown ; rectrices fuscous, externally 

 and internally margined with yellow, the innermost secondaries with 

 whitish instead of yellowish borders; outermost pair of rectrices 

 yellow, next pair yellow on the inner web, fuscous on the outer web, 

 remainder of tail feathers fuscous; chin and upper throat white, 

 lower throat and breast buffy with small fuscous streaks; rest of 

 underparts buffy white, washed with yellow on the middle of the 

 abdomen. 



Immature plumage: Similar to the juvenal plumage on the upper 

 parts, but slightly darker; chin and upper throat white with a 

 few yellow feathers; the lower throat pale buffy white, the breast 

 with a broad black band, not so perfectly developed as in adults; 

 rest of underparts, wings, and tail as in adult birds. 



Adult plumage : Feathers of forehead, crown, occiput, nape, upper 

 back, inner upper wing coverts, back, and rump with fuscous-black 



' Journ. fiir Orn., 1907, p. 41. 

 »Nov. Zobl, vol. 29, p. 182, 1922. 



