BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 209 



CISTICOLA CINEREOLA SCHILLINGS! Reichenow 



Cisticola schilUngsi Reichenow, in Schillings' Mit Blitzliclit und Biichse 

 . . . der Thierwelt von Aequatorial-Ostafrika, Appendix, p. 556, 1905: 

 Doiuyo Erok, Kenya Colony. 



Specimens collected: 



1 female, Wobok, Ethiopia, June 18, 1912. 



1 female, Malata, Ethiopia, June 22, 1912. 



2 males, 3 females, Lekiundu River, Kenya Colony, August 5-6, 1912. 



This race replaces the typical form in southern Ethiopia, Italian 

 Somaliland, and the drier parts of Kenya Colony and of northern 

 Tanganyika Territory. 



The Malata and Wobok specimens are very much abraded; those 

 from the Lekiundu River are in much fresher plumage. The type 

 of alleni Mearns, taken in August, was a molting bird, a fact that 

 is in keeping with the fresh plumage of the August birds in the 

 present series. 



The breeding season is not definitely known, but Lynes ^^ writes 

 that April to July are breeding months throughout its range. 



MELOCICHLA MENTALIS ORIENTALIS (Sharpe) 



Cisticola orientalis Shaepe, Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum, vol. 



7, p. 245, 1883: Pangani River, Tanganyika Territory. 

 Specimens collected : 



1 male, 15 miles east of Meru, Kenya Colony, August 11, 1912. 



1 male, 1 female, junction of Tana and Thika Rivers, Kenya Colony, August 

 24-25, 1912. 



1 male, 20 miles above mouth of Thika River, Kenya Colony, August 27, 

 1912. 



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



1 male, between Thika and Athi Rivers, Kenya Colony, August 29, 1912. 



1 male, Athi River near Juja Farm, Kenya Colony, August 30, 1912. 



Two races of the giant grass warbler occur in northeastern Af- 

 rica — the present one and amaurora. Their ranges are as follows: 



1. M. 7)1. orientalis: From Mashonaland and Nyasaland, north 

 through all but the westernmost parts of Tanganyika Territory, to 

 most of the southern half of Kenya Colony, except the Kavirondo 

 region. 



2. M. m. amaurora: Southwestern Ethiopia and southern Anglo- 

 Egj^ptian Sudan (Upper White Nile, Mongalla, etc.) to Uganda and 

 the eastern Belgian Congo and to Kisumu, Kibigori, etc., in the 

 Kavirondo area in southwestern Kenya Colony, intergrading with 

 orientalis in the Mount Elgon region, although the majority of Elgon 

 birds seem to be amaurora. Granvik ^^ considers birds from Mount 



«' Ibis, 1930, Suppl., p. 530. 



«- Journ. fur Orn., 1923, Sonderheft, pp. 227- -228. 



