336 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



149-160 mm in the males and 135-150 mm in the females. These 

 figures have higher minima than those afforded by the series at hand, 

 tmd because of this difference I feel it better not to recognize 

 formally hrevicaudus^ but merely to call attention to it for the benefit 

 of future workers in Uganda. 



The birds collected at Gato River in March and April, and two 

 shot on the Tana River in August, are in a molting condition; the 

 birds taken at Oui-so and at Lake Abaya, in October and March, are 

 in worn plumage; the one from Moulu, December 17, and one from 

 the Tana River, August 17, are in fresh feathering. Abrasion tends 

 to reduce the reddish-violet sheen on the upper back to bluish, and 

 that on the middle rectrices to bronzy- 



The Ourso specimen is subadult and has the entire head blackish 

 with a dull violaceous sheen. 



Van Someren ^° writes that birds from Jubaland do not have so 

 well marked a purple collar as is found in specimens from Uganda. 

 I am unable to corroborate this and find that the extent of the purple 

 appears to vary both individually and with wear, Erlanger ^^ found 

 that in a large series from Ethiopia some individuals had the back 

 steel-blue with only the nape and upper tail coverts purplish, while 

 others had the entire upperparts decidedly purplish. 



According to Neumann,^^ this species lives in the acacia scrub 

 country of the warmer valleys and does not ascend into the highlands 

 above 6,600 feet, 



Erlanger found two juvenal birds early in June in southern Somali- 

 land, Van Someren®^ found a nest with eggs in April in Uganda, 

 and shot some young birds there in June. 



Besides the specimens collected, Mearns noted this species as fol- 

 lows : Tana River, August 15-23, 85 birds seen ; Thika River, August 

 23-28, 850 ; near Athi River, August 29, 20 birds. 



COSMOPSARIS REGIUS MAGNIFICUS van Someren 



Cosmopsaris regms magnificus van Someren, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 44, 



p. 71, 1924: Tsavo, Kenya Colony, 

 Specimens colm:cted: 



1 juvenal unsexed, Ourso, Ethiopia, October 8, 1911 (Ouellard coll.). 



1 adult male, 1 adult female, Errer River, Ethiopia, December 13, 1911. 



1 juvenal female, Saru, Ethiopia, June IS, 1912. 



3 adult males, Le-se-dun, Kenya Colony, July 26, 1912. 



1 juvenal female, Malele, Kenya Colony, July 27, 1912. 



1 adult female, Lekiundu River, Kenya Colony, August 4, 1912. 



9» Jouni. East Africa and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, no. 35, p. 55 (131), 1930. 



«" Journ. f iir Orn., 1905, p. 710. 



»*Ibid., p. 243. 



w Ibis, 1916, p. 403. 



