410 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



I have seen no birds from western Uganda and therefore can 

 not form a judgment on P. n. vacillans van Someren. It is not 

 recognized in Sclater's list. 



The present specimens are somewhat worn. Their dimensions are 

 as follows: Males — wing, 74, 75; tail, 50, 55; culmen, 16.5, 18; tarsus, 

 20.5, 21 mm. Female — wing, 74; tail, 56; culmen, 17.5; tarsus, 

 21 mm. 



This race differs from typical nigricollis in having the back deep 

 black, not washed with olivaceous. It ranges from the Omo Valley 

 and the extreme southern portion of Shoa (near Lake St^fanie) and 

 southern Somaliland (Juba River) south through Kenya Colony to 

 central Tanganyika Territory. Occasionally the typical race pro- 

 duces very dark-backed individuals but not so pure black as melano- 

 xanthus. A female from Togo is such a case, being much blacker, 

 less olive, above than a series from Gaboon. 



More material from central Tanganyika Territory may reveal a 

 recognizable race there, characterized by its larger size, particularly 

 of the bill. A male from Dodoma has a culmen length of 20 mm. 



The species has been found nesting at Kipini, Kenya Colony, in 

 July. Judged by the condition of the plumage of the three birds here 

 recorded, they may well have been in breeding condition when shot 

 (August). 



PLOCEUS BOJERI (Cabanis) 



Hyphantomis hojeri Cabanis, in von der Decken, Reisen in Ost-Afrika in 

 1859-61, etc., vol. 3, Vogel, p. o2, 1869: Mombasa (ex MS. Finsch and 

 Hartlaub). 



Specimens collected: 2 immature males, 2 adult females, Endoto Mountains, 

 Kenya Colony, July 22, 1912. 



As far as I know this weaver has not been taken as far to the 

 northwest as the Endoto Mountains before. Along the coast it is 

 known from as far north as Jubaland, and south to Dar es Salaam. 



Mearns ^° described an inland race, alleni, from Mini River near 

 Mount Kenya on the basis of slightly larger size and darker color 

 than in hojeri. Van Someren ^^ recognizes alleni but says that it 

 "is barely recognizable, but is rather larger than coast birds, and 

 has the upper surface and underside tinged with olive-green, not so 

 bright yellow." I find the differences to be so slight as to preclude 

 maintaining alleni as a valid form. 



Van Someren suggests that the birds of Lamu and northeastern 

 Kenya Colony may be separable as they have rather deeper chestnut 

 breast bands than do birds from Mombasa. In another paper,^^ he 

 notes the same for Jubaland specimens. 



30 Smithsonian Misc. Coll., vol. 56, no. 20, p. G, 1911. 



" Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 140, 1922. 



s'Journ. East Africa and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, no. 35, p. 57 (133), 1930. 



