BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 381 



In Shoa the breeding season is in August according to Antinori; 

 in extreme southern Ethiopia, Pease found them nesting both in the 

 spring and in autumn. In Somaliland, the allied race erlangeri 

 breeds in June and July. 



In central Kenya Colony (Lekiundu Kiver) Lonnberg ''^ found 

 fledged young in the beginning of February. 



The abundance of this weaver is well illustrated by the entries 

 given it in his diar}'' by Mearns. On his journey from Aletta to 

 Chaffa, March 15-June 24, he noted from 50 to 1,000 birds each day ; 

 similarly, on the trip from Endoto Mountains to the Guaso Mara 

 River, July 19-August 9, from 200 to 1,000 were seen daily, and from 

 the Tana River to the Athi River, August 12-29, from 50 to 500 

 birds were observed each day. 



PLOCEPASSER DONALDSONI Sharpe 



Ploceipasser donaldsoni Shaepe, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 5, p. 14, 1895: "East- 

 ern Africa", i. e., near Lasamis, between Lake Rudolf and tbe Northern 

 Guaso Nyiro River, Kenya Colony. 



Specimens coli.ectei>: 



11 males, 5 females, Chaffa villages, Ethiopian-Kenyan border, June 23-25, 



1912. 

 2 males, 18 miles southwest of Hor, Kenya Colony, July 2, 1912. 

 5 males, 4 females, Dussia, Kenya Colony, July 2-4, 1912. 

 1 male, east of Lake Rudolf, Kenya Colony, July 5, 1912. 

 1 male, 1 female, Kenya Colony, July 22-27, 1912. 



1 male, Le-se-dun, Kenya Colony, July 26, 1912. 



2 males, Lekiundu River, Kenya Colony, August 8, 1912. 



Donaldson's sparrow-weaver occurs in northern Kenya Colony 

 from the Shoan border to the Lekiundu River. It appears to be 

 rather restricted in its range from west to east; it has not been 

 recorded from west of Lake Rudolf, or from east of longitude 40° E. 

 It is a bird of the acacia-steppe country and occurs together with P. 

 mel-anorhynchus. Van Someren *^ considers it "apparently a rare 

 bird." More recently, however,*^ he notes that it is common at 

 Archers Post and Chanlers Falls, Northern Guaso Nyiro River. 

 Lonnberg ^° obtained a series on the Lekiundu River, where it was 

 not uncommon. 



Van Someren writes that his birds are grayer, more mottled on the 

 breast and huffier, less whitish on the cheeks, and are also larger than 

 a cotype of donaldsoni. The present series, which covers the entire 

 range of the species, shows no size or color differences between north- 

 ern and southern birds. All the specimens (both sexes) have the 



^'Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1911, p. 100. 



«Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 134, 1922. 



« Journ. East Africa and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, no. 35, p. 56 (132), 1930. 



•"Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1911, p. 100. 



