BIEDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 325 



Road, and the Tana River. The others are in rather worn plumage. 

 The molting bird from the Tana River is an immature specimen in 

 an advanced stage of the jDOstjuvenal molt. Only a few of the brown 

 Juvenal feathers are left on the forehead and crown, but being sur- 

 rounded by the new white ones they are rendered very conspicuous. 



The breeding season is in March in Kenya Colony, in April and 

 May in Ethiopia. 



In Mearns's diary I find the following entries referring to this bird : 

 Endoto Mountains, July 19-24, 150 birds seen; Er-re-re July 25, 50 

 noted; Le-se-dun, July 26, 50; Malele, July 27, 50 individuals; 18 to 

 45 miles south of Malele, July 28-30, 30 birds ; Northern Guaso Nyiro 

 River, July 31-August 3, 75 seen ; Lekiundu River, August 4^8, 100 ; 

 Meru, on the equator, August 9, 25 seen ; Tharaka district, August 13, 

 20 birds ; Tana River, August 14r-17, 250 observed. 



EUROCEPHALUS RIJPPELLI ERLANGERI Zedlitz 



Eurocephalus anguitimens erlanfferi Zeujutz, Orn. Monatsb., vol. 21, p. 58, 1913: 



Dire Daoua. 

 Specimens collected: 



3 males, 4 females, Dire Daoua, Ethiopia, November 2&-December 19, 1911. 



2 females, Sadi Malka, Ethiopia, January 31-February 2, 1912. 



2 males, 1 female, Hawash River, Ethiopia, February 7-12, 1912. 



1 female, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, April 7, 1912. 



1 male, Gato River near Gardula, May 9, 1912. 



The characters and distribution of this subspecies have already been 

 dealt with in the discussion of the nominate form. 



Most of the specimens listed above are in rather worn plumage, 

 while three from Dire Daoua are molting the remiges and rectrices. 

 In connection with the size data given for ruppelli, the dimensions 

 of erlangeri (table 64) are significant, showing as they do, the very 

 real difference between the two races. 



It resembles ruppelli in its general habits, being one of the most 

 conspicuous birds, both to the ear and the eye, of the thornbush 

 country. According to von Heuglin ^^ it breeds in February and 

 March. This is corroborated by the observations of several natural- 

 ists. Erlanger *® found a nest with four eggs near Harrar on May 16 

 (not March as stated by Shelley®^) and another with three eggs at 

 Darassum, in Gurraland, on April 8. In northern Somaliland Lort 

 Phillips ®^ watched a pair building a nest early in March. The nest, 

 he says, "was built almost entirely of spiders' webs with a foundation 

 moss, and looked like a magnified nest of a Humming-bird. It was 



8^ Ornithologie Nordost-Afrika's, etc., vol. 1, pp. 487-4S8, 1869. 



«« .Tourn. fUr Orn.. 1905, pp. 670-689. 



" The birds of Africa, vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 449, 1912. 



««Ibis, 1896, p. 78. 



106220—37 22 



