142 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Table 30. — Measurements of 20 specimens of Pinarochroa sordida schoana from 



Ethiopia 



Since the above account was written, Peters and Loveridge ^*^ have 

 actually compared topotypical specimens of nicloJf- with topotypes 

 of ernesti and found them to be separable, the former having darker 

 ear coverts and browner, less grayish, superloreal stripes. 



PENTHOLAEA MELAENA (Ruppell) 



Saxicola nielaena Ruppixl, Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna Abyssinien gehorig, 



etc., Vogel, p. 77, pi. 28, 1837 : Alegua Mountain, Agami Province, Abyssinia. 



Specimens collected : 1 male, 1 female, Ankober, Ethiopia, January 21-22, 1912. 



Riippell's chat is a bird of the Ethiopian highlands from Senafe 

 to Shoa. It appears to be relatively scarce, or rather local, as a 

 number of good collectors have failed to meet with it. Neumann ^^ 

 obtained but a single specimen; Erlanger never saw it; Mearns only 

 got two, Neumann found it at an altitude of about 3,000 meters. 

 Blanford "^ writes that it is "pretty common on the highlands, keep- 

 ing much to rocky places amongst bushes," 



Nothing appears to be known of the habits of this bird. Both 

 specimens collected by the Frick expedition are in somewhat worn 

 condition and afford no real clue as to breeding or molting season. 

 Their dimensions are as follows: Male — wing, 86; tails, 67; culmen, 



18; tarsus, 28.5 mm. Female — wing, 86; tail, 58; culmen ; 



tarsus, 26.5 mm. 



«« Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 79, p. 178, 1936. 



««Journ. fiir Orn., 1906, pp. 2S8-289. 



•^Observations on the geology and zoology of Abyssinia, etc., p. 361, 1870. 



