BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 417 



Sclater " writes that aetliiopica ranges from the "Nile Valley from 

 Kliartoum to Lado; east to Sennar, Abyssinia, Somaliland, eastern 

 Kenya Colony; south to Tanganyika Territory" and that centralis 

 occurs in "Uganda and the slopes of Ruwenzori." I have examined 

 a very large series from Ethiopia, Kenya Colony, Tanganyika Terri- 

 tory, the eastern Belgian Congo, Uganda, and the Nile Valley of the 

 Sudan (212 specimens) and find that the birds of the Nile Valley of 

 the southern Sudan are best placed with centralis and not with 

 aethiopica. In fact, a female from as far north as Khartoum is 

 exactly like practically topotypical examples of the Uganda race. 

 Furthermore, centralis occurs south to the northwestern shores of 

 Lake Tanganyika, whence I have seen 16 specimens. Q. q. centralis 

 differs from aethiopica in that the females of the former are darker 

 on the head and mantle than are those of the latter subspecies. 



The present series indicates a general lack of seasonal definiteness 

 for molting. Birds in fresh and in worn plumage were taken in 

 every month represented (March to August). 



The Ethiopian red-billed weaver is widely distributed over Eth- 

 iopia, north to Eritrea (where it appears to be only a visitor and not 

 a permanent resident), Somaliland, and Kenya Colony, south into 

 Tanganyika Territory, and west into the eastern Sudan. It is a 

 very common bird and, during the nonbreeding season, occurs in 

 vast swarms of countless thousands, even millions according to some 

 observers. In Ethiopia, Blanford,^* Erlanger,^'' and Zedlitz^° have 

 attested to the numbers of this bird. In Kenya Colony, van 

 Someren,^^ Granvik,^^ and others have not seen it in such huge flocks- 

 but in the Sudan, Sztolcman, Butler, and others have recorded enor- 

 mous swarms. In spite of its numerical abundance and the rather 

 open nature of the country it inhabits, nothing is known of its breed- 

 ing habits. In fact, even in a well-settled country like South Africa 

 the nesting of the southern race, lathamii^ was unknown until rela- 

 tively recently, when Roberts reported a nesting colony. In cap- 

 tivity the birds are industrious nest -builders, and it is all the more 

 surprising that their nests have not been found in nature. The 

 methods employed in nest-building in captivity have been described 

 in detail.''^ 



According to Bowen ^* birds collected July 28- August 8, near Meru, 

 Kenya Colony, were apparently just through breeding. He found 

 flocks of recently fledged young on July 28, 



" Systema avium ^thopicarum, pt. 2, p. 758, 1930. 



■"Observations on the geology and zoology of Abyssinia, p. 405, 1870. 



<»Journ. fur Orn., 1907, p. 13. 



sojourn, fur Orn., 1911, p. 21; and 1916, pp. 25-26. 



El Nov. Zool., vol. 29. p. 146. 1922. 



«2Journ. fiir Orn., 1923, Sonderheft. p. 165. 



"Friedmann, Zoologlca, vol. 2. no. 16, pp. 355-372, 1922. 



"Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 83, p. 75. 1931. 



