THE HONEY-GUIDES 223 



Throughout the bulk of this enormous range the least honey-guide 

 appears to be restricted mainly to the forested areas, which means 

 that in the eastern part of its range its distribution is decidedly discon- 

 tinuous and local. However, in northwestern Kenya Colony (Kache- 

 liba), Granvik (1934, p. 51) found it in the tall acacias in the dry open 

 country. At Magadi, southern Guaso Nyero, Williams obtained a 

 specimen in the thick acacia forest along the river. In the Belgian 

 Congo, Chapin records it as not uncommon in the heavy forests of 

 the Upper and Lower Congo, and also in adjacent gallery forests. It 

 is essentially a bird of the lowlands but has been taken as high as 

 6,900 feet on the western slope of Ruwenzori. Bannerman (1933, 

 p. 415) writes that while exilis is a forest dweller at times it ranges 

 some distance north of the forest proper, as was first discovered by 

 Bates in his work in the highlands of western Cameroons. The ranges 

 of the eight races of the least honey-guide follow. 



I. e. ansorgei: ^ Known only from Portuguese Guinea (Gunnal). 



I. e. leona: ^* Sierra Leone, where known only from Freetown, 



/. e. vnllcocksi: *^ Gold Coast (Prahou, and Mampong, Ashanti 

 district) and Togoland, 



/. e. hutsoni: ^^ Northern Nigeria (Tatara, Benue Province) to 

 northern Cameroons (Rei Buba). 



I. e. poensis: " Restricted to the island of Fernando Po, Gulf of 

 Guinea (Bakaki, Basoala, Basepu). 



/. e. exilis: Southern Nigeria (Degama), southern Cameroons 

 (Efulen, Lolodorf, Sangmelima, River Ja, Nun River, Donenking, 

 Kumba), Spanish Guinea, and Gaboon (JMoonda River, Camma 

 River, Loango, Oyem), eastward in the Belgian Congo from Landana 

 and Chinchoxo (just outside the political area of the Congo itself, in 

 Cabinda) and Eala, to the Ituri River, Avakubi, Irumu, the Semlilvi 

 Valley, Kartoushi, the western base of Ruwenzori, Idjwe Island, and 

 the higliland forest northwest of Lake Tanganyika, Moera, Ukaika, 

 and southward to the Luluabom-g area in the Kasai. In the extreme 

 eastern Belgian Congo, present data are a little unclear as typical 



^^ Indicator exilis ansorgei Grant, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, vol. 35, p. 100, 1915. 

 (Gunnal, Portuguese Guinea.) 



" Indicator exilis leona Grant, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, vol. 35, p. 100, 1915. 

 (Sierra Leone.) *""* 



" Indicator willcocksi Alexander, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, vol. 12, p. 11, 1901. 

 (Prahou, Gold Coast.) 



^ Indicator hutsoni Bannerman, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, vol. 49, p. 20, 1928. 

 (Tatara, Benue Province, Nigeria.) ^ 



" Indicator poensis Alexander, Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, vol. 13, p. 33, 1903. 

 (Bakaki, Fernando Po.) 



