BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 259 



MACRONYX CROCEUS CROCEUS (Vieillot) 



Alauda crocea Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., vol. 1, p. 365, 1816 : Java I ; 



Senegal (Swainson). 

 Specimens collected : 1 male, 1 female, Atlii River near Juja Farm, Kenya 



Colony, August 31, 1912. 



Gyldenstolpe ^^ has given a detailed account of the variations of 

 this longclaw, and partly as a result of his notes and partly on the 

 basis of material examined, I separated the birds of southeastern 

 Africa as a recognizable entity under the name vulturnus}'^ 



Since the publication of that paper, I have seen more material, 

 which upholds the validity of vulturnus, but I have come to the 

 conclusion that fullehorni is a distinct species with two races, the 

 nominate one and ascensi. The juvenal plumages of M. croceus and 

 M. fillleborni are much more dissimilar than are the adult stages. 



The present female is not fully adult and has the black gorget 

 poorly developed. The male has a rather small gorget, and, inas- 

 much as both specimens are rather small, it appears that they are 

 year-old birds or younger. Both are in fresh plumage. 



The yellow-throated longclaw inhabits open grassy areas and, in 

 the area covered by the Frick expedition, is not very widely dis- 

 tributed. It is unknown north of Tana River, and is most abundant 

 in western Kenya Colony (Naivasha, Laikipia, Kavirondo, Elgon, 

 Nandi districts, etc.) west of where the expedition worked. It is 

 found up to about 7,000 feet, but the limiting factor in its alti- 

 tudinal range appears to be the presence of circling bands of dense 

 forests on the higher mountains in equatorial East Africa, which, 

 quite naturally, act as a barrier to a savannah bird. 



The breeding season is very prolonged. Nests with eggs have 

 been found in western Kenya Colony and in Uganda from March 

 to the end of June, and very young birds in December as well. 



MACRONYX AURANTIIGULA Reichenow 



Macronyx durantUgula Reichenow, Journ. fiir Orn., vol. 39, p. 222, 1891 : Pan- 



gani River, Tanganyika Territory. 

 Specimens collected : 1 female, Tharaka district, Kenya Colony, August 12, 



1912. 



The female is similar to the male, but with the posterior half of 

 the superciliary stripes white instead of yellow and with a band of 

 white running from the bill under the eye just dorsal to the black 

 margin of the yellow throat patch. In the male this area is yellow. 

 In size the two sexes are alike. 



Of all the species of the genus Maoronysa perhaps the least well 

 known is M. aurantiigvla. This form is of interest in that it serves 

 to connect two such diverse types as M. croceus and M. flavicollis. 



" Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Hand., 1924, pp. 80-82. 



^ Occ. Papers Boston See. Nat. Hist., vol. 5, p. 263, 1930. 



