BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 269 



been taken to the south and east of it. The chances are that dorsalh 

 also occurs in southern Gallaland as well. 



These two birds are in molt; the specimen from south of Malele, 

 taken some 6 or 7 weeks later, is in worn plumage but has not begun 

 to molt. The two males have the following dimensions : Wing, 103- 

 104; tail 90, 90; culmen, 17.5-18, tarsus, 28-28.5 mm. The female: 

 Wing, 94.5 ; tail, 84.5 ; culmen broken ; tarsus, 26 mm. It may be that 

 longer series will show northern birds to be constantly larger than 

 southern ones, but with the meagre material available I cannot de- 

 termine this point. A southern male in fresh plumage (from the 

 Sotik district) is smaller than either of the two Ethiopian birds 

 (wing, 100; tail, 92.5; culmen, 16; tarsus, 16 mm). 



Nothing has been recorded of the breeding habits or season of this 

 shrike. It appears to be somewhat migratory, as Erlanger ^^ wit- 

 nessed a great movement of these birds on the Juba River from 

 Kismaj^u to the Garre-Lewin country during May, June, and the 

 first half of July. This, together with the fact that the present June 

 specimens are in molt, suggests that this movement was a postnuptial 

 and not a prenuptial migration. The molt affects the rectrices and 

 remiges, and in no shrike (at least of the genus Lanius) is there a 

 prenuptial molt that extends beyond a few of the body feathers. 



In his field notes Doctor Mearns made a number of entries of a 

 "stout shrike, gray back, first seen at Tertale," which, by elimination 

 and by the fact that he definitely refers this description to the 

 Tertale specimen, seem to apply to Lanius dorsalis. Inasmuch as 

 relatively few records exist for northern Kenya Colony, these ob- 

 servations are of very definite value even though their identification 

 is not so exact and certain as might be desired. At the Chaffa 

 villages, just north of the Ethiopian-Kenyan boundary, June 23-25, 

 24 birds were noted; at Hor, in Kenya Colony, June 26-30, 4 were 

 seen ; at a dry river 18 miles south of Hor, July 1-2, 4 birds ; Dussia, 

 July 3-4, 2 seen; east of Lake Rudolf and at the south end of the 

 lake, July 5-8, 4 birds ; southeast of Lake Rudolf, July 9-10, 4 noted ; 

 plains north of Endoto Mountains, July 19-20, 2 birds; Malele and 

 country south to the Northern Guaso Nyiro River, July 27-30, 22 

 birds; Northern Guaso Nyiro River, July 31-August 3, 14 seen; 

 Lekiundu River, August 4-8, 6 birds observed. 



Recently, van Someren ^^^ has recorded this shrike from a number 

 of northern Kenya localities — Juba River at Serenli and Jebeir; 

 Kulal, Isiola; Northern Guaso Nyiro; Matthews Range; Ngombe 

 Crater; and Kismayu. 



* Journ. fur Orn., 1905, p. 701. 

 «»» Nov. Zool., vol. 37, p. 312, 1932. 



