BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AKD KENYA COLONY 235 



Reichenow ^^ is also identical with similis. The recent authors who 

 have used Sharpe's name kenya^ such as van Someren,^^ have invaria- 

 bly lacked typical material of similis to compare with their Mount 

 Kenya specimens {kenya). 



The range of similis, as far as known at present, is from the 

 Uluguru Mountains ^^ and Mounts Meru and Kilimanjaro, to Mount 

 Kenya, Escarpment, Aberdares, Molo, Mount Elgon, Ruwenzori, and 

 the Birunga Volcanoes (Mounts Muhavura, Sabineo, Mikeno, and 

 Karissimbi) to the mountains west of Lake Tanganyika (6,500 feet). 

 The present species is a mountain form and in regions where it and 

 C. massaicus both occur, they are altitudinally separated. This so 

 impressed Mackworth-Praed that he wondered whether the two 

 might not be considered conspecific, asking if it is "possible to main- 

 tain a 'geographical' race on a difference of 1000 ft. or so in eleva- 

 tion? I should personally consider it a better division than mere 

 distance; but it is a jDoint of interest." On Mount Kilimanjaro 

 similis is known from 8,000 to 11,500 feet; on Mount Elgon, 11,000 

 feet; Mount Kenya, 8,500 feet; the Birunga Volcanoes, 9,000 to 11,500 

 feet; Ruwenzori, 6,000 to 10,000 feet. It is not known from the 

 Usambara Mountains. 



This suggests a reason why the species does not occur in Ethiopia, 

 namely that many of the high mountains in that country are more 

 grassy, and are without true mountain forest to the edge of which 

 the species is ecologically restricted. The species of the lower coun- 

 try, C. "inassaicus, ascends to 8,500 feet in Ethiopia, apparently owing 

 to the fact that no barrier in the form of a true mountain forest 

 prevents it from spreading into the higher reaches of the mountains. 



Gyldenstolpe points out that though in his original description of 

 the type of similis Riclmiond states that the sides of the face and 

 the ear-coverts are like the upperparts in color, this is not always the 

 fact and that the sides of the face and the auriculars are usually 

 slightly more yellowish, less greenish, than the upperparts. I have 

 examined the type and topotypes with this in mind and find that 

 Gyldenstolpe is correct, that is, the cheeks and auriculars are very 

 slightly yellower, less greenish than the back and the upperparts 

 generally. 



The present specimen has the following dimensions: Wing, 58; 

 tail, 56; culmen, 13; tarsus, 22 mm. 



Little is known of the breeding season. Van Someren ^^ found it 

 nesting at Nairobi and procured nestlings on June 10. 



The genus Chloropeta is a link, in many ways, between the Musci- 

 capidae and the Sylviidae. 



s«0rn. Monatsb., 1908, p. 119: Rugege Forest, east of Lake Kivu. 

 «Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 98, 1922. 

 08 Cf. Friedmann, Ibis, 1928, p. 84. 

 "•Ibis, 1916, p. 380. 



