BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 115 



The measuremients of the present series are given (table 21) for 

 the use of future investigators who may have occasion to study this 

 bulbul. 



One of the birds from Sadi Malka is in very worn plumage and is 

 very much paler and tawnier above than any of the others. In dorsal 

 coloration it is nearer to P. xanthopygos reichenowi than to F. h. 

 sehoanus, but is otherwise typical of the latter. 



None of the birds are actually in molt, but some are in fresh plum- 

 age, and others taken at the same time are in abraded feathering. 



Mearns found this bulbul to be abundant along the Hawash Valley 

 from Dire Daoua to Gada Bourca, during his stay there. At Aletta, 

 March 7-13, he saAv about 1,000; at Loco, March 13-15, 100 birds; 

 Gidabo River, ]\Iarch 15-17, 50 noted ; the Abaya Lakes, March 18-23, 

 170 birds; between the Abaya Lakes and Gardula, March 26-29, 12 

 birds ; Gato River near Gardula, March 29-May 17, about 500 birds. 



PHYLLASTREPHUS STREPITANS (Reichenow) 



Criniger strepitans Eeichenow, Orn. Centralb., 1879, p. 139: Malindi, Kenya 



Colony. 



Specimens collected : 



1 male, 1 female, Gardula, Ethiopia, March 27, 1912. 



4 males, 8 females, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, April 2-May 8, 1912. 



1 male, Bodessa, Ethiopia, June 1, 1912. 



3 males, 3 females, 2 nestling females, Sagon River, Ethiopia, June 3-5, 

 1912. 



2 males, Endoto Mountains, south, Kenya Colony, July 23-24, 1912. 

 2 males, 1 female, Tana River, Kenya Colony, August 15-17, 1912. 



Soft parts : Iris dark brownish red ; bill olivaceous-black, pale be- 

 low at base ; feet and claws plumbeous. 



The birds from Bodessa, Sagon River, and Kenya Colony listed 

 above constitute the original series on the basis of which Mearns 

 described fncki. 



In studying the present series (and a small additional one), I have 

 carefully gone over the characters and ranges of the several so-called 

 races of tliis bird and find that individual variation is greater than 

 geographic and that no local forms can be successfully maintained. I 

 am not unmindful, however, of the fact that Zedlitz '^^ concluded that 

 there were three valid forms — strepitans, pauper, and sharpei, and 

 that Bannerman " also recognized pauper, and while not listing 

 sharpei, he grants the validity of rufescens. Sclater ^* recognizes no 

 subspecies of this bulbul. 



"Jouin. fiir Orn., 1916, pp. 66-67. 



" Rev. Zool. Africaine, vol. 12, p. 32, 1924. 



■^aSystema avium .^thlopicarum. pt. 2, p; 382. 1930. 



