BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 317 



PRIONOPS CRISTATA CRISTATA Ruppell 



Prionops (Lanlus) cristatus Ruppeix, Neue Wirbelthiere, zu der Fauna Abys- 

 sinien gehorig, etc., Vogel, Lief. 183, p. 30, pi. 12, fig. 2, 1837: Coast at 

 Massawa. 



Specimens collected : 



1 unsexed, Ourso, Ethiopia, September 11, 1911 (A. Ouellard coll.). 



1 adult male, Black Lake Abaya, Ethiopia, March 26, 1912. 



4 adult males, 4 adult females, 2 immature females, Bodessa, Ethiopia. 



May 19-22, 1912. 

 1 adult male, 1 immature male, 1 adult female, Turturo, Ethiopia, June 15, 



1912. 



Soft parts : Adult male — iris grayish white ; eye wattles yellow ; feet 

 orange, claws olive tipped with black; bill black. Another adult 

 male — iris grayish blue with an outer ring of yellow ; still another — 

 iris and eye wattles yellow. Adult female — iris gray to bluish gray 

 with an outer ring of yellow ; bill black ; feet orange, claws dark gray- 

 ish brown. Another adult female — iris and eye wattles yellow. 

 Innnature female — eye wattles black. 



I consider P. c. omoensis Neumann *^ a synonym. In his notes on 

 the types in the Tring Museum, Hartert**^ tentatively synonymizes 

 omoensis with cristata. The former is said to have the occiput and 

 nape darker than in birds of northern Ethiopia (typical cristata). 

 However, Hartert writes that of Neumann's two specimens of 

 omoensis — 



* * * the nape is much darker in one specimen, and a specimen from Sala- 

 mona (G. Schrader leg.), as well as another from Mulu (Saphiro leg.), have it 

 quite as dark as the one of Neumann's two specimens. * * * In no case were 

 two specimens sufficient to establish such a closely allied subspecies, and we must 

 await further material from the Omo * * * to establish Neumann's 

 ''omoensis.'" (A series collected by Dr. van Someren seems to confirm omoensis, 

 but we shall hear more about this from him before long.) 



Turning to van Someren's discussion °° we find that of his series — 



seven birds agree absolutely with the type of Neumann's omoensis, except that 

 they are larger, wings 115-120 mm. ; in other words, they are very dark grey on 

 the posterior parts of the head and hind part of crest tinged gray, throat dark. 

 Thus we have seven birds collected south of Neumann's type locality agreeing 

 with his bird. His birds were compared with a series of nine birds * * * 

 from Eritrea and South-east Ethiopia, which are all pale-headed with whitish 

 throats, except two, one from Eritrea and one from South-east Ethiopia, which 

 approach very closely the southern birds. Thus the typical birds vary, and in 

 so doing render the validity of P. c. omoensis questionable. Five other birds, all 

 collected at one spot to the southwest of Lake Rudolf on the Turkwell River 

 differ from the dark-headed birds by having the hind part of the crest cream- 

 colour, the hind part of the sides of the head and the nape brownish ashy, and 

 in having the throat tinged brownish. Wings, 121-123 mm. They are fully 

 adult and in fresh plumage. If, therefore, birds from the type locality differ, 



••^Journ. fiir Orn., 1905, p. 216: Omo River between Malo and Koscha. 

 <" Nov. Zool., VOL 27, pp. 452-453, 1920. 

 «> Nov. ZooL, vol. 29, p. 109, 1922. 



