346 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Mearns made a good number of entries in his field book with 

 regard to this bird. Inasmuch as it is impossible for me to draw 

 a line on a map and thereby separate caffer from the nominate race, 

 I give all the records here in their chronological order: At or near 

 Aletta, March 7-13, 50 were seen; Loco, March 13-15, 100; Gidabo 

 River, March 15-17, 100; the Abaya Lakes, March 18-26, 100; be- 

 tween the Abaya Lakes and Gardula, March 26-29, 10 birds; Gato 

 Kiver near Gardula, March 29-May 17, 100; Anole village, May 18, 

 4 birds ; Tertale, June 7-12, 8 birds ; Wobok, June 18, 10 seen ; Yebo, 

 June 20, 10 noted; Northern Guaso Nyiro River, July 31-August 3, 

 40 birds ; Lekiundu River, August 4-8, 20 noted ; Guaso Mara River, 

 August 9, 20; Meru Forest and Kilindini, August 10, 20 birds; 20 

 miles east of Meru on trail to Tana River, August 11, 50 birds seen. 

 It ,may be that the birds south to Yebo are to be considered as 

 erythrorynchus^ and those from the Northern Guaso Nyiro River and 

 southward as coffer. 



BUPHAGUS ERYTHRORYNCHUS CAFFER Grote 



Buphagiis erythrorhynchus caffer Grote, Orn. Monatsb., vol. 35, p. 13, 1927: 



Selala River, Transvaal. 

 Specimens coli^cted : 1 female, Athi River, Kenya Colony, August 29, 1912. 



As already mentioned under the typical race of the red-billed 

 oxpecker, birds from Kenya Colony are identified as cafer to accord 

 with the conclusions reached by Sclater. The present specimen, how- 

 ever, is not particularly dark or large (wing, 112 mm) and might 

 just as well be called erythrorynchus. 



Family NECTARINIIDAE, Sunbirds 



NECTARINIA TACAZZE (Stanley) 



Certhia tacazze Stanley, in Salt, Travels in Abyssinia, Appendix, p. 58, 1814: 



Abyssinia, probably from the Tacazze River. 

 Spexjimens collected: 



1 immature male, Adis Abeba, Ethiopia, January 8, 1912. 



6 adult males, 4 immature males, 2 adult females, Arussi Plateau, 9,000- 



10,500 feet, Ethiopia, February 17-28, 1912. 

 1 adult male. Lake Zwai, Ethiopia, March 1, 1912. 

 1 adult male, 1 immature male, Sidamo, Ethiopia, March 4, 1912. 

 3 adult males, 2 immature males, 2 adult females. Escarpment, Kenya 



Colony, September 4^9, 1912. 



I have studied a series of 34 specimens from Ethiopia, the Kenya 

 highlands, and Mount Kilimanjaro and have come to the conclusion 

 that jacksoni and unisplendens' are too inconstant in their characters 

 to be recognized as racial forms. Sclater,^^ Granvik,^^ and others 



2s Systema avium .asthiopicarum, pt. 2, p. 683, 1930. 

 '» Journ. fiir Orn., 1923, Sonderheft, pp. 224-226. 



