BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 243 



to tell the two species apart in this f)lumage. Although there is, then, 

 a possibility that the present bird may be cyanea^ it is rendered very 

 unlikely, as cyanea has not been recorded from Mount Kenya and 

 the adjacent Meru Forest as far as I have been able to learn. The 

 subspecific identification as jachsoni is based solely on geographical 

 grounds. 



Platysteira cryptoleuca Oberholser (not Mearns, as stated by van 

 Someren ^*) is a synonym. I have examined the type and paratypes 

 of cryptoleuca and can find no constant character to support its 

 validity. When he described this bird, Oberholser®^ had no com- 

 parative material to study, and he was misled by the fact that the 

 published descriptions of peltata failed to mention the presence of 

 a hidden white patch on the cervix. All specimens of peltata have 

 this character. 



The Angolan race mentalis I have not seen. 



The present race (no adults seen) is said to differ from typical 

 peltata in having the throat and head of the female blue-black in- 

 stead of green-black. It occurs in western Kenya Colony from Mount 

 Elgon and Meru (near Mount Kenya) southwest to the Katanga. The 

 nominate form occurs along the eastern coast as far north as the 

 Tana River. 



Van Someren suggests that the birds of the coastal plain may be 

 separated from those of the interior on the basis of the larger size 

 of the latter. This is not corroborated by the small series I have 

 been able to examine. 



TERPSIPHONE VIRIDIS FERRETI (Gn£rin-M6neTille) 



Tchitrea ferreti GtifiRiN-MfiNEViLLE, Rev. Zool., vol. 6, p. 162, 1843: Abyssinia. 

 Specimens collected: 



1 male, Duletcha, Ethiopia, January 24, 1912. 



1 female, Hawash River, Ethiopia, February 11, 1912. 



1 female, near Loko, Sidamo, Ethiopia, March 6, 1912. 



1 female, Aletta, Sidamo, Ethiopia, March 9, 1912. 



1 male, Lake Abaya, Ethiopia, March 19, 1912. 



3 males, near Gardula, Ethiopia, March 28-29, 1912. 



4 males, 4 females, 1 juvenal male, 1 unsexed, Gato River, Ethiopia, March 

 SO-May 8, 1912. 



2 males, 2 females, 1 juvenal male, Bodessa, Ethiopia, May 22-June 1, 1912. 

 1 female, Tertale, Ethiopia, June 17, 1912. 



1 female, Endoto Mountains, south, Kenya Colony, July 23, 1912. 

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



Soft parts : Eye wattles, bill, feet, and claws blue. 

 The generic names Terpsiphone and Tchitrea have replaced each 

 other in such an endless series of cycles of opinion that it appears 



" Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 101, 1922. 



Troc. U. S. Nat. Mua., vol. 28, p. 913, 1905: Useri River, Mount Kilimanjaro. 



