220 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Since this account was first written van Sonieren ^^ has described 

 two more subspecies — moi^sahit, from the mountain of that name, and 

 interpositus, from Molo. The former is smaller, more ashy brown 

 above, and more ochraceous-brown below than murinUyS^ thereby 

 somewhat resembling pumilis; interpositus is like uviirinus but is less 

 dark grayish above, more brownish, and not so grayish on the breast. 

 I have seen no material of either. 



HYPODES CINEREUS KIKUYUENSIS (van Someren) 



Alseonax caerulescens kikuijuensis van Someren, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 41, 



p. 102, 1921: Kyambu, Kenya Colony. 

 Specimens collected: 1 female, Tana River (1,200 feet), Kenya Colony, August 



15, 1912. 



Unfortunately, I have been able to examine so little comparative 

 jnaterial that I can add little to what is known of this flycatcher. 



Bates ^° has straightened out the nomenclature of this bird and has 

 shown that Hypodes Cassin (1859) has many years' priority over 

 Cichlomyia Oberholser ( 1905 ) . I feel that the birds are generically 

 distinct from Musclcapa^ and hence Cassin's name cinerea is the 

 proper specific name. If, however, the bird be left in Muscicapa, the 

 name cinerea can not be applied, as Cassin's name dates from 1856 

 while P. L. S. Miiller named a Madagascan bird Muscicapa cinerea in 

 1776; Gmelin did the same for a South American form in 1789 and 

 McClelland used the name for an Indian bird in 1837. 



Sclater ^^ follows Bates's conclusions as to the racial forms except 

 that he does not recognize pondoenms Gunning and Roberts. Un- 

 fortunately, neither of these writers makes any mention of Muscicapa 

 cinereola Hartlaub and Finsch."^ Van Someren ^^ has referred birds 

 from Teita to cinereola so I assume that a specimen from Taveta 

 (Abbott collection) is of that form. It is grayer, darker both above 

 and below, than the specimen from the Tana River. Inasmuch as it 

 differs from the latter in precisely the manner in which cinereola is 

 .said to differ from kikuyiiensis^ I conclude that Mearns's bird is of 

 the latter form, which I have not otherwise seen. It appears to 

 constitute the northernmost record for kikuyuenMs. Judged by the 

 locality from which it comes, it would not be surprising if it proved 

 to be somewhat intermediate between this race and cinereola. Its 

 measurements are as follows: Wing, 74; tail, 58.5; culmen, 14.5 mm. 

 It is an adult in fresh plumage. 



"Journ. East Africa and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, no. 37, pp. 193-194, 1931. 

 »» Ibis, 1926, pp. 581-585. 



" Systema avium ^T]thiopicarum, pt. 2, p. 401, 1930. 



^ Baron C. C. von der Decken's Reiscn in Ost-Afrika in den Jahren 1859-1865, vol. 4, 

 VOgel, p. 302, 1870 : Usaramo, Tanganjika Territory. 

 »» Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 96, 1922. 



