BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 441 



Tliaraka district, and Tana River; males with reddisli lores from 

 Hawash River, Reishat, Sagon River, and Endoto Mountains. Off- 

 hand this suggests that possibly a gray-lored form may occur in 

 Ethiopian Somaliland south to Lanui and thence inland along the 

 Tana Rivei', but the red-lored bird from the Hawash River, and the 

 fact that the type of afjinls (from Hersi Barri, Ogaden) has reddish 

 lores renders this unlikely. Zedlitz "- has studied this form and rec- 

 ognizes it as the resident race of the Somali districts, northern and 

 eastern Kenya Colony, from Ogaden, the Ginir, Garre-Lewin, and 

 Gurra countries, to the Northern Guaso Nyiro River. He mentions 

 two specimens from the Rendile area but writes that as they are 

 females and do not show the characters of the race, their identifica- 

 tion must be considered unsatisfactory. The present males from 

 Sagon River, Reishat, and Endoto Mountains show that the Rendile 

 birds are not affhiis. 



Two of the birds have the lores mixed gray and red and suggest 

 that the gray- and red-lored birds are not specifically distinct. 



All the Ethiopian birds (and also the one from Reishat) have the 

 under tail coverts barred more or less distinctly; all the Kenyan birds 

 (from 18 miles southwest of Hor southward into Tanganyika Terri- 

 tory) have these feathers entirely unbarred. It may be possible to 

 recognize a southern form on this basis, but as I have seen no topo- 

 typical MtM material, I can not say whether that name is available. 

 Lynes ^^ considers Mrki a synonym of soudanensis, and writes that 

 the reason for this is that "although the type loc. of P. ???. sou- 

 danensis is unknown, its type-specimen agrees almost exactly with 

 that of P. m. hirhi; and since the original descriptions of both also 

 apply to either bird * * * j-j-^g older name of the two ought to 

 be used." 



The inconstancy of the loral character makes one suspicious of 

 P. percivali van Someren.^* This name is synonymized wdth helli 

 by Sclater, but here again there is room for discussion. I have seen 

 three birds from Dodoma, Tanganyika Territory, that agree very 

 closely with the description of percivali — white lores in the male, 

 dark gray throat and breast in the female. It arouses a wonder if 

 there may not be two specific groups in the melba finches — one with 

 red lores and one with grayish or whitish lores. The former group 

 would include ineXba^ helli., j^ssi, MrM., perci'vali^ and grotei; the 

 latter would include citerior, soudanensis^ and '''ajjinisy I have not 

 the material wherewith to judge Neunzig's new races damarensis^ 

 "useguhae, cenfralis, and ladoeiisis. Grote's form <76'n^'a^/<?^ and Reich e- 

 now's tanganjicae are synonyms of helU. 



»Journ. fiir Orn., 1916, pp. 29-35. 



"Ibis, 1926, p. 400. 



" Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 40, p. 56, 1919 : Loita Plains. Kenya Colony. 



