452 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



matters more difficult. Van Someren "^^ writes that he can not recog- 

 nize "more than one race for Uganda, South Ethiopia, Somalihmd, 

 and East Africa. I can pick out birds which agree with the characters 

 of the various races claimed, but such are not limited to specimens 

 from the distribution of these supposed forms, and similar birds 

 are to be found from all the localities." He calls attention to the fact 

 that there is much variation in plumage correlated wdth age. Young 

 birds in the juvenal dress are little or not at all barred; vigorous, full 

 plumaged adults are most distinctly barred and are generally darker 

 below. 



The present specimens are somewhat abraded. The female is more 

 grayish, less brownish, on the crown and occiput than the males. Tlie 

 dimensions of these birds are as follows; Males — wing, 46, 46; tail, 43, 

 45; culmen, 9.6, 10; tarsus, 12.5, 13 mm. Female— Wing, 47; tail, 42; 

 culmen, 9.2 ; tarsus, 12.8 mm. 



Shelley ^° has summarized wdiat was known of this bird at the 

 time. Since then but little has been added other than Zedlitz's notes.*^** 

 This investigator writes that it is an inhabitant of the middle altitudes, 

 up to, but not much beyond, 1,200 meters. It was not met with in the 

 low hot Barca district. He found a breeding bird at Ghinda in the 

 Eritrean coastal belt on January 31 and suggests that the breeding 

 season there is during the local spring, but that on the other side of 

 the eastern Ethiopian watershed, the season is late in summer ! This, 

 however, remains to be demonstrated. At Khartoum, birds apparently 

 in breeding condition were taken in the first half of November by 

 Butler. 



ESTRILDA RHODOPYGA CENTRALIS Kothe 



Estrilda rhodopyga centralis Kothe, Oin. Moiuitsb., vol. 19, p. 70, 1911: 



Kisenyi, Lake Kivu (not Lake Albert Edward, as stated by Kothe). 

 Specimens collected: 1 male, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, May 2, 1912. 



Soft parts : Bill black above and below, red on sides. 



This specimen is the type of E. r. folia Mearns. Aside from van 

 Someren's reference to south Ethiopian examples,*'^ this is the only 

 Ethiopian record I know of. 



The specimen is in worn plumage; its dimensions are as follows: 

 Wing, 46; tail, 45; culmen, 10; tarsus, 12.5 mm. 



ESTRILDA PALUDICOLA OCHROGASTER Salvador! 



Estrilda ochrogaster Salvadori, Boll. Zool. Anat. Torino, vol. 12, no. 287, p. 4, 



1897: Abyssinia. 

 Specimens collected: 1 male, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, March 30, 

 1912. 



^8 Nov. Zool., vol. 29, pp. 165-166, 1922. 



59 The birds of Africa, vol. 4, pp. 206-207, 1905. 



eo.Tourn. fiir Orn., 1911, pp. 26-27. 



«Nov. Zool., VOL 29, p. 165, 1922. 



