BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 207 



In the region traversed by the Frick expedition, three races of 

 this grass warbler occur — zedlitzi of Eritrea and Ethiopia, the pres- 

 ent race katonae^ and the coastal form reichenowi, which ranges from 

 northeastern Tanganyika Territory north across Kenya Colony to the 

 Juba River, southern Somaliland. 



According to Lynes, the range of katonae includes the interior of 

 Kenya Colony, both the midplateau and the highlands, south to and 

 including the base and vicinity of Mount Kilimanjaro in northern 

 Tanganyika Territory. Investigators with material from higher 

 altitudes than any represented in the present series should note what 

 Lynes has to say regarding variations in this form. 



Like most of the species of its genus, the present one breeds chiefly 

 during the two rainy seasons. 



CISTICOLA NANA Fischer and Reichenow 



Cisticola nana Fischer and Reichenow, Journ. fiir Orn., 1884, p. 260: N'garuka, 



Arusha district, Tanganyika Territory. 

 Specimens collected: 



8 adult males, 1 immature male, 2 adult females, 1 immature female, 

 Bodessa, Ethiopia, May 21-27, 1912. 



1 adult female, Tertale, Ethiopia, June 7, 1912. 



1 immature male, 1 immature female, east of Lake Stefanie, Ethiopia, 

 April 30, 1912. 



2 adult males, Lekiundu River, Kenya Colony, August 5, 1912. 



1 adult male, 1 iumiature male, 1 adult female. Tana River, camp 6, Kenya 

 Colony, August 21, 1912. 



Lynes ^^ writes that this grass warbler has only one annual molt 

 in adult life, "constantly in Kenya-Tanganyika, and, according to 

 present material, also in S. Ethiopia, but irregularity there may still 

 be suspected." The present series from southern Slioa exhibits no 

 irregularities; the female from Tertale is in molt, but this seems to 

 be the regular, postnuptial molt. The breeding season in southern 

 Ethiopia, however, is in May, June, and July (possibly longer), so 

 the expedition was not in the region during the "winter" season. The 

 Bodessa birds are all in rather worn plumage but show no evidence 

 of molt. Those from the Tana River are in fresh feathering. 



Young birds have the upper back more reddish, more like the 

 crown in color, than adults. I can find no difference in the color of 

 the underparts in immature birds from Ethiopia and from Kenya 

 Colony, thereby supporting Lynes's conclusion that the degree of 

 ventral sulphuring is an unstable, individual variation, not corre- 

 lated with geography. 



The size dimensions agree with those given by Lynes. 



« Ibis, 1930, Suppl., p. 521. 



