208 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



This warbler lives in the thornbush and savannah districts from 

 central Tanganyika Territoiy north through Kenya Colony to 

 Somaliland, southern Ethiopia, and northeastern Uganda. 



The breeding season in Ethiopia is probably very prolonged and 

 indefinite, as Lynes records young birds taken in July at Sheikh 

 Hussein, while Mearns obtained young on May 23 at Bodessa. In 

 Kenya Colony, the nesting time api^ears to be chiefly, but not wholly, 

 confined to the rainy periods. 



CISTICOLA CINEREOLA CINEREOLA Salvador! 



Cisticola cinereola Sai-vadobi, Ann. Mus. Genova, vol. 26, p. 254, 188S : Farre, 



Hawash Valley, Ethiopia. 

 Specimens cx>llected: 



1 male, Sadi Malka, Ethiopia, February 3, 1912. 



3 males, Hawash River, Ethiopia, February 5-6, 1912. 



Lynes ^^ writes that the two races of this bird, cinereola and 

 schillingsi, differ from each other "by little or no more than the mode 

 of dress; that of the northern race, the seasonal; and that of the 

 houthern, the perennial, accompanied by the intermediate Winter/ 

 Summer colour-pattern commonly associated with that mode of 

 dress." This does not agree very well with the small series of both 

 races collected by the Frick expedition. The present series shows a 

 distinct size difference, the typical birds being larger than schillingsi. 

 Furthermore, Lynes states that "Somali birds run a trifle the larger, 

 viz. $ wing 64 ±2, and Ethiopian a trifle the smaller, viz. S wing 

 62 ±2," while I find the present four males from the Hawash Valley, 

 Ethiopia, to have wings measuring 62, 65, 68, and 70 mm, respec- 

 tively ! The tail measurements for winter males given by Lynes are 

 54 to 60 mm, which agree very well with the present specimens (53, 

 54, 57.5, and 60 mm, respectively). The dimensions of the present 

 series of schillingsi agree with the figures given by Lynes. The dif- 

 ference may not be so great as the present series show, as one of the 

 topotypes of cdleni { = schillingsi) in the Museum of Comparative 

 Zoology is said to have a wing length of 67 mm. Furthermore, van 

 Someren ^° calls schillingsi "a larger * * * pace of cinereola^'' ; 

 so it seems that considerable variation exists. 



Two of the present four examples of cinereola are in a molting 

 condition, especially in the tail; the other two are very worn but 

 show no signs of molt. 



This race occurs from British Somaliland and the Hawash Valley 

 south to southern Shoa. 



»*Ibis, 1930, Suppl., pp. 527-528. 

 «• Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 211, 1922. 



