362 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Recently, van Someren '^^ has concluded that keniensis is a valid 

 race. "The males," he says, "are paler below on the belly, and the 

 females have the throat tinged with greyish. * * * Males with 

 the palest olive bellies are found on the Aberdares." He had 28 

 specimens of keniensis and 16 of mediocris from Kilimanjaro. I 

 still consider keniensis as a doubtful form. 



CINNYRIS REICHENOWI REICHENOWI Sharpe 



Cinnyris reichenowi Sharpe, Ibis, 1891, p. 444 ; Sotik. 



Specimens collected : 1 male, Escarpment, 7,390 feet, Kenya Colony, September 

 6, 1912. 



This specimen is the type of C. r. kikuyuensis Mearns. This race 

 was described by Mearns ''^ on the basis of this single example, and 

 was stated to differ from reichenowi in being smaller and more gray- 

 ish, less ochraceous on the abdomen. Gyldenstolpe ^^ writes that 

 from "the material at hand this form must * * * be recognized. 

 It is slightly smaller than typical Cinnyris reichenowi reichenowi^ 

 the males having wing-measurements of 51-52 mm. The differences 

 are, however, very slight indeed, and when more material becomes 

 available for examination it may prove, that the alleged differences 

 are not constant." I have seen two more Kenya males and a pair 

 from Ruwenzori and one male from Ruanda, and find that the race 

 kikuyuensis can not be upheld on the basis of adult males. Van 

 Someren ^^ writes that the race is recognizable but that females show 

 the differences better than the males. 



The data recorded by Granvik '^^ militate against the validity of 

 kikuyuensis. His series from Mount Elgon contained some individ- 

 uals with dark, uniform olive-brown bellies, and others with lighter 

 olive-green underparts, paler toward the sides. This indicates suffi- 

 cient variation in color to throw doubt on this character of kikuyuen- 

 sis. Granvik's birds are, however, fairly large like western typical 

 ones — wings, 54r-58 mm. For the present, at least, kikuyuensis may 

 be synonymized with reichenoioi. 



This race (assuming the identity of kikuyuensis) ranges from 

 Sotik, Escarpment, Mount Kenya, and Mount Garguess west to 

 Mount Elgon, Ruwenzori, and the Kivu Volcanoes. Sclater®" calls 

 stuhlmanni Reichenow a race of this bird replacing it on the higher 

 reaches of Ruwenzori, but in this he apparently is mistaken. I think 

 that Reichenow was wholly correct when he stated ^^ it was nearest 



78 Nov. Zool., vol. 37, p. 355. 1932. 



T« Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 48, p. 388, 1915. 



" Kongl. Svenska Vet. Akad. Handl., 1924, p. 93 



'8 Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 199, 1922. 



"Journ. fur Orn., 1923, Sonderheft, pp. 221-222. 



'• Systema avium ^thiopicarum, pt. 2, p. 696, 1930. 



"Orn. Monatsb., 1893, p. 61. 



