BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 233 



northern Somaliland, Erlanger ^° found it not uncommon both in the 

 acacia thornbush country and in the sparse forests of mountains. 



Judging from the condition of the phunage of the immature bird 

 collected on April 7, it would appear that the nesting season prob- 

 ably falls between October and February. The bird is nonmigratory, 

 according to von Heuglin.^^ 



Inasmuch as size variations are the materials on which so many 

 opinions on the systematics of this bird have been based, I give the 

 dimensions (table 46) of the adults collected by the Frick expedition. 



Besides the specimens collected, Mearns noted this bird as follows : 

 Gibado River, March 15-17, 10 birds seen ; Abaya Lakes, March 18- 

 26, 10 noted; near Gardula, March 26-29, 2 birds, Gato River near 

 Gardula, March 20-May 17, 500; Gato River crossing. May 17, 25 

 seen ; Anole, May 18, 4 birds ; Kormali village, May 19, 25 observed ; 

 Bodessa and Sagon River, May 19-June 6, 130; Tertale, June 7-12, 

 33 birds. 



MELAENORNIS PAMMELAINA TROPICALIS (Cabanis) 



Melanopepla tropicalis Cabanis, Journ. f iir Orn., 1884, p. 241 : Ikanga, Ukamba, 



Kenya Colony. 

 Specimens collected : 



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



1 male, 35 miles south of Northern Guaso Nyiro River, Kenya Colony, 



July 29, 1912. 

 1 female, Lekiundu River, Kenya Colony, August 7, 1912. 



3 males, 1 female, 1 unsexed, Tharaka district, Kenya Colony, August 

 13-14, 1912. 



1 adult male, 1 immature male, Tana River, Kenya Colony, August 17-20, 



1912. 

 1 male, Athi River, Kenya Colony, August 29, 1912. 



Soft parts : Iris brown ; bill, feet, and claws black. 

 The glossy black flycatcher ranges from South Africa to Angola, 

 Rhodesia, through Tanganyika Territory to Uganda and north-cen- 

 tral Kenya Colony, and possibly Ethiopia. In its entire range it has 

 been differentiated into two races as follows: 



1. M. p. pamTTieJaina: Natal, Zululand, Swaziland, west through 

 rhe Transvaal and northern Cape Province to Damaraland, Nama- 

 qualand and Ovampoland, north to Angola, the Zambesi River, south- 

 ern Nyasaland and southern Mozambique. This form is the larger 

 of the two; wings, 105-115 mm. 



2. M. p. tropicalis: Central Mozambique and Nyasaland north 

 through Tanganyika Territory to central Uganda (west to Ankole) 

 and to the Endoto Mountains in Kenya Colony. 



This is the form that has been called M. ater tropicalis by most 

 writers, as pammelaina was thought to be a grayish-black bird. Van 



»• Journ. fiir Orn.. 1905, p. 682. 



^ Ornithologie Nordost-Afrika's. vol. 1, p. 428, 1869. 



