428 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



UROBRACHYA AXILLARIS TRAVERSII Salvador! 



Urohrachya traversii Salvadoki, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova, vol. 26, p. 287, 1888: 



Sutta, Shoa. 

 Specimens collected: 3 males, near Aletta, Sidamo, Ethiopia, March 6, 1912. 



In the absence of adequate material to attempt a critical study of 

 the racial forms of the fan-tailed widow bird, I follow Sclater's ar- 

 rangement.^" I have seen small series of the following races — axil- 

 laris, zanziharica, phoenicea, and traversii, and they support Sclater's 

 conclusions. 



The Abyssinian race, characterized by its large size (wings, 88- 

 93 mm), occurs in the Shoa, Sidamo, Kollu, and Kaffa districts and 

 does not appear to range east into Gallaland, as that area is too low 

 for it. It is a bird of the middle altitudes (4,500-9,300 feet) and, 

 according to Neumann,®^ lives in cornfields and grainfields, often 

 together with Euplectes capensis xanthomelas, Euplectes taha stricta, 

 and CoUuspasser ardens laticauda. It must be rather local, as Er- 

 langer did not meet with it in his celebrated journey. Shelley ^- has 

 summarized previous knowledge of this bird. Apparently, the bird 

 is known only from the following localities: Adis Abeba; Antotto; 

 Sutta; Urafa Bonata; Manna Gasha; Lekamti; Lake Zwai; Aletta; 

 Kimo in the Kollu area; Bola Goshana in Doko; and Anderatscha 

 in Kaffa. Lovat noted this species to be very local ; Pease saw large 

 flocks at Lake Zwai; Mearns observed large flocks along meadow 

 streams near Adis Abeba. 



The present specimens are in very fresh winter plumage. Neumann 

 collected birds in nuptial dress in Shoa in September and October; 

 Ragazzi also obtained breeding-plumaged birds in October. Neu- 

 mann writes that the breeding season of this, as of so many other 

 birds in Shoa, is in September and October. Judged by the extreme 

 freshness of the winter plumage of the present March birds, in 

 southern Shoa the breeding season seems to extend beyond October 

 very considerably. 



The dimensions of the present specimens are as follows : Wing, 89, 

 91, 92; tail, 62, 68, 70; culmen, 15, 15.5, 16; tarsus, 22, 23.5, 24.5 mm, 

 respectively. 



Mearns noted this widow bird on the following occasions : Aletta, 

 March 7-13, 50 birds seen; Galana River, March 19-20, 40; Black 

 Lake Abaya, March 21, 20 birds observed. Mearns's records appear 

 to be the southernmost ones for this bird. 



*" Systema avium ^Hthiopicarum, pt. 2, pp. 7G4-765, 1930. 



8i.Tourn. fur Orn., 1905, pp. 346-347. 



82 The birds of Africa, vol. 4, pp. 67-68, 1905. 



