BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 205 



Frick expedition. The present subspecies has a seasonal mode of 

 plumage, while kapitensis has the perennial type. The latter is also 

 smaller in size, wings (males) 67 to 71 mm as opposed to 70 to 78 mm 

 in inexpectata. 



The present race occurs from southern Eritrea to central Ethiopia 

 and the western half of southern Ethiopia, east to longitude 40° E., 

 but not beyond. It is resident and fairly common in the southern 

 part of its range and, according to Lynes,'*'* is more local farther 

 north. Its altitudinal range appears to be quite limited, 5,000 to 

 8,000 feet. 



The males listed above have wings measuring 70 to 76 mm in 

 length ; tails, 55 to 61 mm. These figures agree with those given by 

 Lynes. 



The breeding season is said to be from June to October in northern 

 Ethiopia and from May to September in the southern part of that 

 country. 



CISTICOLA NATALENSIS ICAPITENSIS Mearns 



Cisticola strangei kapitensis Meaens, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 56, no. 25, 



p. 4, 1911 : Potha, Kapiti Plains, Kenya Colony. 

 Specimens collected: 



1 male (=female), Guaso Mara River, Kenya Colony, August 9, 1912. 



1 male, 1 female, Tana River, Camp No. 5, Kenya Colony, August 19, 1912. 



3 males, Thika River, 20 miles above mouth, Kenya Colony, August 27, 1912. 



1 female. Bowlder Hill, Thika River, Kenya Colony, August 28, 1912. 



The male from the Tana River is the type of Cisticolu rohitsta tana 

 Mearns. 



This race occurs in central Kenya Colony between the altitudinal 

 limits of 3,000 and 5,000 feet. Lynes =^ writes that it has a rather 

 "restricted range consisting more or less of the western parts of the 

 Machakos and Kitui Districts, the Fort Hall, Embu, Nyeri and 

 Meru Districts, and the adjacent corner of the Northern Frontier 

 Province." It would appear from this that the present specimens are 

 all from the eastern part of the range of kapitensis. 



All the present specimens are in the buff-striped nonbreeding plum- 

 age. Lynes refers to adults "in the exceptional hu-ff -striped non- 

 breeding dress," which Avould make it appear that the majority of 

 these birds never assumed such a plumage but had merely the peren- 

 nial dress. It is somewhat surprising, therefore, to find that all 

 .seven of the birds collected by Mearns should be of this type. It 

 seems that there must be considerable local variation in molt, as Lynes 

 definitely says that "some individuals — according to the present ma- 

 terial, a very small proportion — revert to adult Winter dress after 

 breeding, or in other words have the seasonal mode of dress * * *. 



66 /bis, 1930, Suppl., p. 447. 

 "Ibis, 1930, Suppl., p. 452. 



