BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 363 



to G. afer. I consider it a subspecies of that form and not of reiche- 

 nowi. Woosnam®^ may be responsible for Sclater's disposition of 

 stuhlmanni as he writes that — 



* * * it is a curious fact that, except for its larger size, this Sun-bird 

 exactly resembles in every detail C. reiclienowi, a species which is found 3,000 

 ft. lower down the mountains, and which also inhabits the surrounding plains. 

 Possibly this increase in size is the result of the cooler climate at higher 

 altitudes. 



The present specimen is in somewhat worn plumage. 



CHALCOMITRA SENEGALENSIS LAMPERTI (Reichenow) 



Cinnyris senegalensis lamperti REacHENOw, Journ. fiir Orn., 1S97, p. 196: Moschi, 



Tanganyika Territory. 

 Specimens coLLECTEa): 



1 adult male, 1 immature male, Tharaka district, Kenya Colony, August 



14, 1912. 

 3 immature males, 2 adult females, Tana River, Kenya Colony, August 



21-22, 1912. 

 1 adult male, Thika River, Kenya Colony, August 27, 1912. 



The adult male from Tharaka is the type of O. s. atra Mearns.^^ 

 In studying these birds I have reidentified all the material of the 

 species in the United States National Museum, totaling some 51 

 specimens of 5 subspecies. I find that Gyldenstolpe's revision,^* as 

 modified by Sclater/^ works very well. 



The present race, which differs from the Uganda and west Kenyan 

 form aequatorialis^ in having the female less yellowish below, and 

 from the coastal subspecies inaesthnata in having no metallic purple 

 lesser upper wing coverts, occurs from the Kilimanjaro district west 

 to the Eift Valley. 



Van Someren ®^ writes that he obtained lamperti (called atra in 

 his paper) at Lamu on the coast, together with inaestimata. I have 

 seen no birds from Lamu but I wonder whether van Someren's 

 lamperti from there was not possibly an aberrant example of inaesti- 

 mata. I do not see that the forms with metallic lesser upper wing 

 coverts i^*" gutturalis''' group) are really specifically distinct from the 

 ^''senegalensis''^ group as Gyldenstolpe decided, and so I find it diffi- 

 cult to believe that lamperti and inaestimata occur together as breed- 

 ing birds. It is not unlikely that eventually it will be agreed that 

 hmiteri and cruentata are also conspecific with senegalensis. Neu- 

 mann ^'^ has already made this suggestion. 



*^ Trans. Zool. Soc. London, vol. 19, p. 330, 1910. 



saproc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 48, p. 388, 1915. 



«* Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1924, pp. 95-99. 



*' Systema avium .SJthiopicarum, pt. 2, pp. 700-701, 1930. 



s^Nov. Zool., vol. 29. pp. 199-200, 1922. 



^ Journ. fur Orn., 1906, p. 252. 



