BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 215 



tail-feathers; August, nest-building; September, eggs; October 

 young abroad; November, complete moult of adults into the long- 

 tailed rufous dress of winter." 



Von Heuglin " found this species in central and southern Ethiopia, 

 in Sennar, on the Sobat and the White Nile, and particularly abun- 

 dant at Lake Tsana and at Gondar. He fomid it up to altitudes of 

 as much as 10,000 feet above the sea. 



Besides the specimens collected, Mearns noted this bird as follows : 

 Several seen along the Upper Hawash River during January and 

 February; Aletta, March 7-13, 20 birds; Loco, March 13-15, 20 

 noted; Gidabo Eiver, March 15-17, 30; Abaya Lakes, March 18-26, 

 200; between the Abaya Lakes and Gardula, March 26-29, 20 birds 

 seen. 



PRINIA MISTACEA IMMUTABILIS van Someren 



Prinia inistacea tmmutabilis van Someken, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 40, p. 98; 



1920 : Lake Nakuru, Kenya Colony. 

 Specimens coixected: 



1 male, Meru Forest, Equator, Kenya Colony, August 10, 1912. 



1 female, Tbaraka District, Kenya Colony, August 12, 1912. 



1 female, junction of Tana and Tliika Rivers, Kenya Colony, August 26, 

 1912. 



1 male, 20 miles up the Thika River, Kenya Colony, August 27, 1912, 



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



1 male, Athi Station, Uganda Railway, Kenya Colony, September 1, 1912. 



The characters and distribution of this race have already been 

 discussed and need not be repeated here. 



Three of the present specimens were molting the rectrices and 

 remiges when collected ; two of the others are in fresh plumage, while 

 the remaining one is still in abraded feathering. The males have 

 the following dimensions: Wing, 51, 49, 52.5, 49; tail, 59, 63.5, 



65.5, ; culmen, 15, 14.5, 14, 14.5; tarsus 22.5, 22, 21, 20 mm, 



respectively. The females: Wing, 51, 47; tail, 62, 53; culmen, 14, 

 13.5 ; tarsus, 21, 19 mm, respectively. 



Lonnberg^^ found this bird common in herbaceous thickets at 

 Kutu, Kagio, Fort Hall, Meru, etc., and obtained a male with some- 

 what enlarged gonads on March 30 at Kagio. Granvik ^^ writes that 

 it is one "of the most common birds occurring on the fringes of the 

 forest, in the bush areas and acacia -country. * * * On Elgon 

 the bird was common right up to about 8,000 feet." He found it 

 nesting in June and in July. 



The following observational records of this bird are taken from 

 Mearns's field notebook: Tana River at mouth of Thika River, 



" Ornithologle Nordost-Afrika's, etc., vol. 1, pp. 239-240, 1869. 

 '«Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., vol. 47, no. 5, p. 123, 1911. 

 ""> Journ. fttr Orn., 1923, Sonderheft, p. 241. 



