BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 427 



has recorded them. Antinori and Ragazzi found this species plenti- 

 ful in Shoa, Donaldson Smith obtained one at Budda in the Galla- 

 Somali area. 



Erlanger '^ found nests with eggs on July 28 at Djogu in Arussi- 

 Gallaland, and another late in September at Adis Abeba. In Kenya 

 Colony, Jackson " found the birds nesting in July and August at 

 Elgeyu, and saw young of the year in November. Van Someren ^^ 

 writes that in Kenya Colony and Uganda the birds breed in May 

 and June and again in October and November. 



In the collection of J. H. Fleming is a melanistic example of this 

 bishop bird. It is a male, collected at Entebbe, Uganda, May 14, 191G, 

 and was formerly in Sir Frederick J. Jackson's collection. It com- 

 pletely lacks the yellow, which is replaced by black. The bird is 

 molting in the wings and on the body, is solid black, with a bluish 

 white bill. The old feathers are dark fuscous-black; the new ones 

 deep glossy black. 



EUPLECTES CAPENSIS KILIMENSIS Ncunzig 



Euplectcs capensis kilhnensis Neiunzig, Zool. Anz., vol. 78, p. 115, 1928: Moschi, 



Tanganyika Territory. 

 Specimens collected: 



1 female, Tbaraka district, Kenya Colony, August 12, 1912. 



8 males, 5 females. Escarpment, Kenya Colony, September 4-7, 1912. 



The birds are all in off-season plumage ; most of them in very fresh 

 feathering. They show the grayer, less brownish color, especially of 

 the underparts, so characteristic of kilbnensis. They constitute the 

 altitude record for the distribution of this bird, as far as I know, 

 coming from 7,390 feet. 



Bowen " found this bird just commencing to breed during the 

 last days of May at Thika. One was seen building its nest there on 

 May 29. At Meru, a month later, he found the old birds in nonbreed- 

 ing plumage, and this, together with the presence of young of the 

 year, indicated that the breeding season was over. It follows that the 

 season must be earlier at Meru than at Thika. 



Meams recorded this bishop bird as follows: Guaso Mara River, 

 August 9, to Tharaka district, August 14, 50-500 birds daily; Tana 

 River, August 17-20, 100; Thika River, August 28, 20 birds; be- 

 tween Thika and Athi Rivers, August 29, 20 seen; Athi River, Au- 

 gust 30-31, 75 birds; Athi River Station, September 1-2, 50 seen; 

 Nairobi, September 3, 20 birds; Escarpment, September 4-12, 500 

 seen. 



•"Journ. fill- Orn., 1907, p. 15. 



" Quoted in Shelley, The birds of Africa, vol. 4, p. 78, 1905. 



'8 Ibis, 1916, p. 416. 



" Proc. Acad. Nat. Scl. Philadelphia, vol. 83, p. 76, 1931. 



