BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 237 



breast band in the male, and a much paler throat spot and pectoral 

 band in the female. The northern race puella is similar to molitor 

 in the male (the breast band is only slightly narrower in the former 

 than in the latter) but the females of puella have the throat spot 

 and breast band dark chocolate-brown, darker than in molitor, and 

 very much darker than in soror. 



A series of 27 specimens of pueJla have the following dimensions : 

 Males — wing, 57-62; tail, 39-45; culmen, 12-14; tarsus, 16-19 mm. 

 Females — wing, 56-62; tail, 41-48; culmen, 12-14; tarsus, 16-17.5 mm. 



Mearns noted that this flycatcher has a nasal, honking note similar 

 to that produced by a nuthatch, Sitta carolinensis. 



BATIS MINOR ERLANGERI Neumann 



Batifi minor erlangeri Nettmann, Journ. fiir Orn., 1907, p. 353: Gara Mulata, 

 near Harrar, Ethiopia. 



Specimens collected : 



1 adult male, Aletta, Ethiopia, March 11, 1912. 



1 adult male, 2 adult females, Gidabo River, Ethiopia, March 15-16, 1912. 



1 adult female, northeast Lake Abaya, Ethiopia, March 16, 1912. 



2 adult males, 1 subadult male, 2 adult females, Gato River, near Gardula, 

 Ethiopia, April IQ-May 9, 1912. 



2 adult females, Bodessa, Ethiopia, May 25-27, 1912. 



The races of Batis minor have been dealt with by Neumann,*® 

 Sclater and Mackworth-Praed,*^ and by Sclater.*® The main differ- 

 ence between the first two is the question of the proper name for the 

 species. Neumann uses minor and Sclater and Praed use hella. Much 

 ink has been spilled over the question, and I do not intend to add 

 any to it, as Gyldenstolpe *" has shown that Elliot's description of 

 hella does not fit the birds currently known as jninor. Sclater ex- 

 amined Elliot's type and found ^° that it was the same as Batis 

 orientalis soTnaliensis Neumann, over which Elliot's name has priority. 



Furthermore, in answer to an inquiry of mine, John T. Zimmer 

 has kindly reexamined the type of hella and finds that the under wing 

 coverts and axillars are black, with no white except on the edge of 

 the wing. The white superciliary stripe is present but much reduced 

 in width over the eye, so that, in certain arrangements of the fea- 

 thers, it is entirely concealed except over the lores, where it is very 

 much broader ; hence Elliot's failure to observe it. The measurements 

 of the type are: Wing (flattened), 57.5; tail, 42.5; culmen from base, 

 15.25 ; tarsus, 17 mm. 



".Tourn. fiir Orn., 1907. pp. 352-355. 



«Ibis, 1918, pp. 708-709. 



"Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 45, pp. 50-57, 1925. 



«Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1924, p. 209. 



"Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 45, p. 55, 1925. 



