258 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



median stripes, bordered laterally with yellowish green ; upper tail 

 coverts bright yellow; outer upper wing coverts, and the remiges 

 bright yellow broadly tipped with black; middle pair of rectrices 

 fuscous-black, the rest of the tail feathers bright yellow with a little 

 black on their distal parts, the black decreasing centrifugally, there 

 being no blackish on the two outermost pairs; underparts bright 

 yellow, with a broad black pectoral band. 



2. Females. — Juvenal plumage: Similar to that of the male. 



Adult plumage: Similar to the juvenal stage but slightly darker 

 above and with the tawny-buff on the breast more pronounced, 

 thereby tending to obliterate the small pectoral streaks or spots 

 present in the younger birds. 



Inasmuch as this bird is not too common in collections, I give the 

 measurements of the adults (table 50). 



The specimen taken on July 8 at the south end of Lake Rudolf is in 

 an early stage of the postnuptial molt. One of the females col- 

 lected on August 1 on the Northern Guaso Nyiro River is likewise 

 in molt. On the whole, July birds are in fresher plumage than 

 August ones, but the difference is not great. 



Van Someren has found this pipit nesting in May and July in 

 southeastern Kenya Colony, and Erlanger^'' found nests with eggs 

 during May in the Garre-Lewin districts of Somaliland. According 

 to Erlanger, the nest is made of such material as dry grasses and is 

 always placed near, but not quite on, the ground. Three to four eggs 

 constitute a clutch. They are white with a rosy or greenish wash, 

 much speckled and dotted with dirty clay color, and average about 

 20 by 15 mm in size. 



Table 50. — Measurements of IS specimens of Tmetothylacus tenellus from Kenya 



Colony 



10 Journ. fur Orn., 1907, p. 41. 



