100 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Chaffa, June 23-25, 30 birds seen; Nyero Mountains, July 13, 10 noted; 

 Indunimiara Mountains, July 13-18, 35 ; Endoto Mountains, July 18- 

 24, 200 ; Er-re-re, July 25, 50 birds seen ; Le-se-dun, July 26, 50 ; Malele, 

 July 27, 20 noted; 35 miles north of Northern Guaso Nyiro Eiver, 

 July 29-30, 20 seen ; Northern Guaso Nyiro Eiver, July 31-August 3, 

 200 birds; Tharaka district, August 12-14, 130 seen; Tana Eiver, 

 August 15-23, 150; Tana Eiver at mouth of Thika Eiver, August 

 23-26, 200; east of Ithanga Hills, August 26, 20 birds; 9-20 miles up 

 the Tliika Eiver, August 27, 40 seen ; west of Ithanga Hills, August 28, 

 25 birds; betAveen Thika and Athi Elvers, August 29, 30 birds seen. 



Hachisuka,^ in studying a series of the Indian babbler Argya longi- 

 rostri^, finds that the birds of Munipur are separable from typical 

 Nepalese examples. For the former he revives Godwin-Austen's name 

 Tubiginosa.^^ I am not concerned here with the validity of the 

 Munipur form, but point out that rubigi?iosa Godwin-Austen, 1874, is 

 preoccupied by riLbiginosa Eiippell, 1845. I have not looked to see if 

 another name is available, but if not the Munipur race is without a 

 name. 



ARGYA AYLMERI AYLMERI Shelley 



Argya aylmeri Shelley, Ibis, 1885, p. 404, pi. 11 : Somalilaud. 

 Specimens collected: 



1 male, Nyero Mountain, Indunumara Mountains, Kenya Colony, July 

 13, 1912. 



2 females, Indunumara Mountaius, Kenya Colony, July 16, 1912. 



Sclater ^' recognizes four races of this bird, but I doubt if more 

 than two are really vaHd. Hartert described loverklgel from south- 

 eastern Kenya Colony ,^^ and later ^® he synonymized it with keniana 

 Jackson. Van Someren *° has, in turn, synonymized keniana with 

 mentalis^ a course in which he appears to be justified on the basis 

 of his material, and which is further substantiated, although indi- 

 rectly, by Hartert's synonymizing of loveridgei with keniana. 



Unfortunately, the material available to me has been very scanty, 

 but the conclusions to which I have come are that only two valid 

 races occur, as follows: 



1. A. a. aylmeri: British and Italian Somaliland west through 

 southern Arussi-Gallaland and northern Kenya Colony to the Indu- 

 numara Mountains, 



2. A. a. mentalis: Central Kenya Colony south to the Dodoma 

 and Singida and Kondoa Irangi districts of central Tanganyika 



« Tori, vol. 5, no. 25, English column, p. 20, 1928. 



»>Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1874, p. 47. 



^ Systema avium ^thiopicamm, pt. 2, pp. 356-357, 1930. 



=8 Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, voL 43. p. 119, 1923. 



»Nov. Zool., vol. 34, p. 214, 1928. 



«Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 235, 1922. 



