280 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



LANIARIUS FERRUGINEUS AETHIOPICUS (Gmelin) 



Turdus aethiopicus Gmexin, Syst. Nat., vol. 2, p. 824, 1788 : Abyssinia. 

 Specimens collected: 



3 unsexed, Ourso, Etliiopia, September 3-October 13, 1911 (A. Ouellard 

 coll.). 



1 female, Sadi Malka, Ethiopia, December 20, 1911. 



2 males, Sadi Malka, Ethiopia, January 29, 1912. 



1 female, Loku, Ethiopia, March 5, 1912. 



2 males, 1 female, Aletta, Ethiopia, March 6-10, 1912. 



3 males, Escarpment, 7390 feet, Kenya Colony, September &-9, 1912. 



Sclater and Mackworth-Praed ^* have briefly reviewed the races of 

 this bush shrike. They recognize eight forms and remain non- 

 committal as to the southern Somaliland subspecies somaliensis of 

 Reichenow. However, they consider all these birds of northeastern, 

 eastern, central, and western Africa specifically distinct from fer- 

 f^uffineus of South Africa, a procedure that seems to be wrong. I 

 have examined a series of 75 skins and conclude that the group 

 treated by Sclater and Praed as Laniarius aethiopicus is conspecific 

 with L. ferrugiowus and that there are in all 10 valid races. I have 

 not seen enough South xifrican material to attempt to study the races 

 pondoensis, natalensis, transvaalensis, and limpopoensis proposed by 

 Roberts,^^ and consequently the absence of these names in the fol- 

 lowing list does not necessarily imply that they are not valid. For 

 the present, we can not do otherwise than treat all South African 

 birds as belonging to one form — the typical one. The races, then, 

 are as follows: 



1. L. f. fen'ugineus : South Africa north to the Limpopo River 

 and to Inhambane district, Mozambique. This form has the flanks, 

 abdomen, and under tail coverts strongly tinged with tawny. Ac- 

 cording to Roberts, there is considerable geographic variation in the 

 extent of the tawny color, and it is partly on this basis that he differ- 

 entiated several races. 



2. L. f. guttatus: From the Cunene River and the Portuguese 

 Congo east to Bechuanaland and Lake Ngami, and along the Zam- 

 besi to the Victoria Falls. This form, like the nominate race, has 

 a white band on the wings formed by the middle coverts and the 

 outer margins of some of the secondaries, but has thei whole under- 

 parts pure white. Roberts uses the name strictu?nis Hartlaub for 

 this form, but gattatus is earlier and therefore has priority. 



3. L. f. mossamhlcus: Eastern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, and central 

 Mozambique north to southern Tanganyika Territory. Characters — 

 the white wing mark as in the two above-mentioned races, but with 

 a faint rosy wash on the underparts ; wings, 90 mm. 



0* Ibis, 1918, pp. 633-634. 



8= Ann. Transvaal Mus., vol. 8, p. 246, 1922. 



