BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 337 



Soft parts: Iris yellowish white; bill, feet, and claws black. 



No material of typical regius has been available for study, and 

 therefore I follow Sclater ^ in considering all the present specimens 

 as of van Someren's race magni-ficus. Certainly they do not differ 

 inter se, and they agree with two examples from the plains east 

 of Mount Kilimanjaro. 



The young birds from Ourso and Saru are just beginning to molt 

 into adult plumage; a few glossy greenish feathers are sprouting 

 on the throat, crown, nape, and upper back; the Malele bird is less 

 advanced, having only a few green feathers posterior to the eyes 

 and two on the throat. One of the adults from Le-se-dun is just 

 finishing the molt and is in full fresh plumage, but has the middle 

 rectrices still inclosed in their sheaths basally although fully grown 

 in length. 



The adult males have wings measuring 130, 132, 136.5, and 140 mm, 

 tails 212, 221, 223, and 236 mm, respectively. The adult females — 

 wings, 122 and 123 mm ; tails, 184 and 188 mm, respectively. 



This beautiful bird occurs from southern Ethiopia and the Ogaden 

 region south through the interior of Kenya Colony to the Kiliman- 

 jaro district. It lives in the acacia savannahs and is usually found 

 in small flocks of 6 to 10 individuals. It seems to be really numer- 

 ous nowhere but perhaps reaches its greatest abundance in Somali- 

 land (where, of course, the nominate race is the local form). Erlan- 

 ger ^ found it common near Ginir. 



The golden-breasted glossy starling has been taken only a few 

 times in Ethiopia. Hawker saw it near the western frontier of 

 Harrar ; Pease obtained specimens at Errer Gota ; and Erlanger shot 

 examples in Arussi-Gallaland and Gurraland. 



Erlanger found nests with eggs in the Ginir district on April 4 

 and 5. He notes that as early as the beginning of May, one often 

 sees fledged young and that the breeding season appears to be very 

 definite and brief. Lonnberg ^ shot a male on March 10 north of the 

 ISrorthern Guaso Nyiro River in Kenya Colony. He says: "This 

 specimen had the testicles much swelled which proves that the bird 

 in question breeds in the thornbush country north of Guaso Nyiro 

 below Chanler Falls at that time of the year," 



Mearns observed this species in the following places: Saru, June 

 19, 20 birds ; Endoto Mountains, July 19-20, 4 seen ; Le-se-dun, July 

 26, 25 seen ; Malele, July 27, 25 birds ; 18 to 24 miles south to Malele, 

 July 28-29, 25 noted ; Lekiundu River, August 4r-8, 4 birds seen. 



1 Systema avium ^thiopicarum, pt. 2, p. 663, 1930. 



2 Journ. fiir Orn., 1905, p. 711. 



«Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1911, p. 99. 



