BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 421 



m-as'pedo'pteva to tlie Sudan, but noted that "the only adult breeding 

 male in the * * * collection (one from Mongalla) has the under 

 tail-coverts particoloured white on one side and brownish on the 

 other, while the frontal band is fairly well-developed. Neither of 

 these distinctions seem to us entirely satisfactory, but we propose to 

 retain the subspecies provisionally." 



Lynes ^'^ writes that "the white under tail-coverts of southern Ethio- 

 pian birds is quite a good character for craspedopterus Bp. * * * 

 but that the depth of the black frontal band is much too variable 

 (in hordeacea) to vrarrant it being taken for a racial character." 



Stoneham ^^ finds the frontal band to be an unreliable criterion and 

 states that if a race is to be upheld on the basis of the whitish under 

 tail coverts its range must include not only the eastern Sudan and 

 Ethiopia but also a large part of Uganda, and probably the Luo 

 country of Kenya Colony as well. 



The material available for study bears out Stoneham's contentions 

 very well. While the white color of the under tail coverts is a con- 

 stant and noticeable cliaracter of craspedoptera, the width of the 

 black frontal band is also constant, although this character varies 

 in sylvatiea. 



The birds of the southern Sudan and of northwestern Uganda may 

 well be somewhat intermediate between true craspedoptera and 

 sylvatiea. Thus, Gyldenstolpe ''^ records that birds from Mongalla 

 have fawn-colored, not white, under tail coverts. He refers them to 

 syl/uatica. 



The present specimens are in fairly fresh (some very fresh) 

 plumage. Their dimensions are as follows: Males — wings, 67-80 

 (average, 75.5) ; tail, 43-50 (46.8) ; culmen, 14-16.5 (15.1) ; tarsus, 

 18.5-21 (20.4 mm). Females— wing, 64-68.5 (65.8) ; tail, 36-43 (40) ; 

 culmen, 14-15 (14.3) ; tarsus, 17-20.5 (19.0 mm). 



Mearns observed this bishop weaver only at Gato River, where, 

 however, he found them in good numbers. The birds were nesting 

 at the time of his visit and he found 10 nests with eggs. All the 

 nests were built near the tops of tall heavy grasses and were fairly 

 well hidden from view. The eggs (2 to 4 in number) were all in a 

 fairly advanced state of incubation (May 11). They are plain, un- 

 marked blue in color; the extreme variations in size are 18 by 15 mm 

 and 17.5 by 14.2 mm. 



Neumann *'^ found the birds breeding in October at Abai on the 

 Blue Nile. 



"3 Ibis, 1926, p. 401. 



«^Ibis, 1929, pp. 272-273. 



•= Kongl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1924, pp. 44-45. 



«»Journ. fur Orn., 1905, pp. 344-345. 



100220—37 28 



