BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 



199 



This is the largest race of the species and is a dark, heavily marked 

 form with a perennial plumage of the "winter" type. 



I have examined a large series of this race, of ukmnha, hetero- 

 phrys. fischen\ bodessa, and shn^plex, and find the characters and 

 distributional data given by Lynes to be wholly correct. 



CISTICOLA CHINIANA UKAMBA Lynes 



Cisticola chiitiaiia ukaiiiha Lynks, Ibis, 1930, SuppL, p. 207: Masongoleni, 



Ukamba Province, Kenya Colony. 

 Specimens colxected : 



2 males, 2 females, Tharaka district, Kenya Colony, August 13, 1912. 



1 male, 1 female, Tana River, Camp No. 3, Kenya Colony, August 16-17, 

 1912. 



1 female, Tana River below Camp No. 4, Kenya Colony, August 17, 1912. 



1 female, Thika River, 20 miles above mouth, Kenya Colony, August 27. 

 1912. 



2 males, Athi Station, Uganda Railway, Kenya Colony, September 1, 1912. 



This form differs from humilis in being lighter, more buffy, less 

 grayish above, and smaller in size. It inhabits the semihigh country 

 of Kenya Colony from the Taveta-Teita country north through the 

 Masai area and Ukambani to Embu and the Tharaka district. 



Measurements of the present series are given in table 39. 



The first male bird listed and the two females from the Tharaka 

 district are in molting condition. Lynes ^® writes that "August, Sep- 

 tember and October are the months during which the majority seem 

 to moult." 



The birds from the Thika and Athi Rivers are slightly duskier, 

 more grayish above than those from the Tharaka and Tana areas 

 and may be slightly intermediate between this race and humilU. 

 Birds from Kikuyu and Nairobi are of this intermediate nature. 



Table 39. — Measurements of 10 specimens of Cisticola chiniana ukamba from 



Kenya Colony 



*»Ibis, 1930, Suppl., p. 268. 



