332 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



This race is the opposite extreme from friedmanni. It is a small 

 form with whit« on the outer webs of the outermost pair of rectrices, 

 just as the latter is a large race with no white. Bowen gives 102-109 

 mm as the range of variation in wing length of lauragrayae^ while in 

 verreauxi^ the other race with white in the tail, the wings measure 

 from 110 to 114 mm. The present birds have wings of 104, 106, and 

 107 mm, respectively. 



Van Someren ^° iinds the characters of lauragrayae to be inconstant, 

 and as his series is considerable his findings must be taken into ac- 

 count. All the material I have seen, however, supports this race. 



The two females differ in the color of the crown, nape, and upper 

 back. One, in fresh plumage, has all the feathers of these parts mar- 

 gined with rufous-tawny, deepest and most rufescent on the head, 

 palest and least so on the back ; the other, in more abraded condition, 

 has the edges of the head feathers paler, more tawny, less rufous, 

 and the feathers of the upper back have completely lost their bright 

 edges. The male is in rather fresh plumage. 



Mearns observed 20 of these birds at Meru. 



PHOLIA SHARPII (Jackson) 



PJiolidauges sharpU Jackson, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 8, p. 22, 1898: Naudi 

 (but type in the British Museum from Ravine, Mau Plateau). 



Specimens collected: 



2 males, near Aletta, Sidamo, Ethiopia, March 6, 1912. 

 1 female, Loco, Ethiopia, March 13, 1912. 



Sharpe's starling occurs in the highlands of eastern Africa from 

 the Rungwe country northwest of Lake Nyasa, through Tanganyika 

 Territory and the eastern Belgian Congo to the Kaffa, Sidamo, and 

 Djamdjam districts of southern Ethiopia. 



According to Neumann,^^ this bird lives in thick jungle at alti- 

 tudes of from 8,200 to 9,600 feet. 



The three specimens obtained are in fresh plumage. Their di- 

 mensions are as follows : Males — wing, 98, 100.5 ; tail, GO, 63 ; culmen, 

 12.5, 13; tarsus, 20, 20 mm. Female — wing, 98; tail, 61.5; culmen, 

 13; tarsus, 20 mm. 



SPECULIPASTOR BICOLOR Reichenow 



SpecuUpastor Mcolor Reichenow, Orn. Centralb., 1S79, p. 108 : Kipiui, Kenya 



Colony. 

 Specimens collected : 



1 adult male, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, April 14, 1912. 



1 immature male, Anole, Ethiopia, June 17, 1912. 



The present two specimens constitute the first record for this star- 

 ling in Shoa and extend the known range of the species westward 

 about 250 miles. 



8« Nov. Zool., vol. 37, pp. 313-314, 1932. 

 "Journ. fur Orn., 1905, pp. 238-239. 



