448 BULLETIN" 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The birds from the Tana River are somewhat intermediate be- 

 tween hikuyuensis and somaliensis. 



The Tana River birds show slight signs of ecdysis; the others 

 are in fairly fresh plumage. The size variations are as follows: 

 Males— wing, 48-50 (average, 49) ; tail, 36-38 (37) ; culmen, 9-10 

 (9.7); tarsus, 12.5-13.5 (13 mm). Females— wing, 46-48 (47.5); 

 tail, 33.5-35.5 (34.5); culmen, 9-9.5 (9.1); tarsus, 12-13 (12.5 mm). 



The Kikuyu red-billed fire-finch is a common bird throughout its 

 range and often builds its nest in the thatched roofs of native huts. 

 Its nests have been taken throughout the year. 



Mearns noted 100 of these birds at the junction of the Tana and 

 Thika Rivers, August 23-26; at Bowlder Hill, August 27, he saw 25; 

 on the Thika River west of Ithanga Hills, August 28, 10 birds ; be- 

 tween the Thika and Athi Rivers, August 29, 20 birds; Athi River 

 near Juja Farm, August 30-31, 5 were seen; Escarpment, September 

 4-13, 200 birds. 



COCCOPYGIA MELANOTIS QUARTINIA (Bonaparte) 



Estrclda quartmia Bonapabte, Conspectus generum avium, vol. 1, p. 461, 1850: 



Abyssinia. 

 Specimens collected: 



1 adult male, Ethiopia, March 2, 1912. 



2 adult males, 1 adult female, Botola, Siclamo, Ethiopia, March 5, 1912. 

 1 adult female, Aletta, Ethiopia, March 11, 1912. 



1 immature male. Loco, Ethiopia, March 13, 1912. 



The yellow-bellied waxbill occurs throughout eastern and south- 

 ern Africa. In the regions traversed by the Frick expedition two 

 forms are found, qioartinia, of Ethiopia, and kllimensis, of Kenya 

 Colony south to Nyasaland and Gazaland. The latter race (which 

 occurs north as far as Mount Lololokui) is slightly darker, the 

 breast less sulphur-yellow, more tinged with orange-bujffy than the 

 former. 



The Abyssinian race occurs from the Eritrean border south to 

 Harrar, Arussi-Gallaland, and southern Shoa, but it is probably 

 somewhat local, as several collectors failed to find it. Shelley *^ 

 has summarized the data available to him, and all that has been 

 added since then are the records of Erlanger, Zaphiro, and Mearns. 

 The first named *^ found the species in Arussi-Gallaland and at 

 Adis Abeba. He found a nest with six much incubated eggs at Adis 

 Abeba on October 8. Zaphiro ^° added a few locality records — the 

 Managasha Forest, Uraguessa and Gamu in the Charada Forest, 

 Kaffa, and Kullo. Mearns's birds, listed above, constitute the most 

 southern Shoan records for the race. 



<8 The birds of Africa, vol. 4, p. 237, 1905. 



«Journ. fiir Orn., 1907, pp. 21-22. 



60 See Ogilvie-Grant, Ibis, 1913, p. 569. 



