412 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



grayish-brown shade of the coloring of the females, which are also 

 said to have the inner margin of the primaries legs yellowish. 

 Sclater ^^ considers it to be inseparable. I have not seen any females, 

 but only adult males from Aden, and they are not different from 

 Ethiopian specimens. For the present, at least, I follow Sclater in 

 this regard. 



The immature male collected on December 22 is just beginning to 

 molt and has a few adult, yellow feathers on the occiput. One of 

 the males from the Ha wash Kiver, February 13, is gubadult, as it 

 has a pale brownish bill and lacks the deep chestnut-brown on the 

 chin and has this color paler and less extensive on the cheeks and 

 forehead than do other, more fully adult birds. The size variations 

 of the adults are as follows : Males— wing, 68, 70, 73, 73.5 ; tail, 46, 

 46.5, 48, 51; culmen, 15, 15.5, 16, 16; tarsus, 19.5, 20.5, 21, 21 mm. 

 Females— wing, 64.5, 65, 65, 65, 66.5, 69; tail 41.5, 42.5, 43, 44, 45, 49; 

 culmen, 13.5, 14.5, 15, 15, 15 15.5; tarsus 19, 19.5, 19.5, 20, 20, 20 mm, 

 respectively. 



Heuglin found this weaver abundant in the Samhar and Bogos 

 areas at altitudes of from sea level up to 6,000 feet. The species 

 appears to be numerous throughout its range, as it has been met 

 with by most of the collectors who have traveled in northeastern 

 Africa. Blanford ^^ writes that in extreme northeastern Ethiopia 

 and adjacent parts of Eritrea the birds breed in August. In British 

 Somaliland, Lort Phillips found the birds nesting in March. In the 

 Sudan, Butler records nests in the latter part of May. Erlanger ^^ 

 found nests with eggs on December 27 near Aden, Arabia, in Febru- 

 ary in northern Somaliland, and from May to August in Ethiopia. 



AMBLYOSPIZA ALBIFRONS MONTANA van Someren 



Figure 25 



AmMyospiza alhifrons montatui van Someben, Bull. Brit. Oni. Club, vol. 41, 

 p. 122, 1921 : Fort Hall, Kenya Colony. 



Specimens collected: 1 subadult male, 20 miles east of Meru on trail to Tana 

 River, Kenya Colony, August 11, 1912. 



In the regions traversed by the Frick expedition three races of the 

 grosbeak weaA^er are known to occur. They are aethio'pica of the 

 Omo drainage area of southwestern Ethiopia northeast to Adis 

 Abeba and Harrar, inontcma of the interior of Kenya Colony, and 

 unicolor of the coastal area from southern Somaliland to Bagamoyo 

 and thence inland to the Kilosa and Kilimanjaro regions. I have 



^^ Systema avium ^tliiopicarum, pt. 2, p. 750, 1930. 



^ Observations on the geology and zoology of Abyssinia, p. 404, 1870. 



" Journ. fur Orn., 1907, p. 12, 



