142 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUINI BULLETIN 223 



Ranges of the races are as follows: 



Steganura paradisaea paradisaea: Eritrea and Ethiopia south across eastern 

 Africa to eastern Cape Province; west across Rhodesia and the southern Belgian 

 Congo to Angola; absent in southwestern Africa south of Damaraland, Bechuana- 

 land, and Transvaal. 



Steganura paradisaea aucupum-J^ Senegal and French Sudan east to Lake Chad 

 and Shari River, south to the northern limits of the forests of the Upper Guinea 

 coast and the Cameroons. 



Steganura paradisaea togoensis:^^ Togoland, probably Ghana and Upper Guinea 

 coastal area where not forested. 



Steganura paradisaea kadugliensis:^" Southern Kordofan Province, and probably 

 northern Bahr-el-Ghazal, Sudan. 



Steganura paradisaea inter jeda:^^ Eastern Cameroons, east to the Upper Uele 

 District, Belgian Congo, and Mongalla Province of the Sudan. 



Steganura paradisaea crientalis:*^ Valley of the Blue and White Niles, west to 

 Darfur, and possibly to Lake Chad, where it intergrades with aucupum. 



Steganura paradisaea obtusa: ** Eastern Belgian Congo east to western Kenya, 

 south to Nyasaland, Gazaland, Mozambique, Northern Rhodesia, and Angola. 



There appears to be do essential difference in the ecological habitats 

 of the various races. 



Breeding Season 



The following data, culled from the labels of museum speci- 

 mens, the published notes of many observers, and a number of un- 

 published observations, give a resume of definite evidence for the 

 breeding time of the paradise widow bird in the various parts of its 

 range. The picture is still incomplete, and will undoubtedly be added 

 to as new data become available. The dates of first appearance of 

 nuptial plumage in adult males and the beginning of postnuptial molt 

 are not by themselves invariably reliable indices of breeding, but have 

 been used in connection with other evidence. As Chapin noted 

 (1954, p. 584), throughout its range the paradise widow bird retains 

 the nuptial jjlumage much longer than does the pintail, and this fact 

 may have some connection with the fact that the main group of known 

 host species of the paradise widow birds, the members of the genus 

 Pytilia, are late breeders. 



Gambia: July to November (given as the breeding season by Hopkinson, 

 1909, p. 7). 



Sierra Leone: Bendugu and Kamaron, November 16 and 17, males with 

 swollen testes collected. 



3' Steganura paradisaea aucupum Neumann, Bull. British Omith. Club, vol. 21, 1908, p. 43 (Diourbel, near 

 Dakar). 



3» Steganura paradisaea togoensis Grote, Omith. Monatsb., vol. 31, 1923, p. 43 (Kete, Togoland). 



*o Stagamira paradisaea kudugliensis Bowen, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei. PhOadelphia, vol. 83, 1931, p. 230 

 (KadugU, southern Kordofan, Sudan). 



*i Steganura paradisaea interjecta Qrote, Toum. Omlth., vol. 70, 1922, p. 402 (Weg Nola, eastern Cameroons). 



41 Vidua paradisaea orientnlit Heuglin, Omlthologle Nordost-Afrlka's . . ., vol. 1, 1871, p. 583 (Bogosland, 

 type from Keren). 



« Steganura aucupum obtusa Chaphi, Amer. Mus. Nov., No. 43, 1922, p. 6 (Luchenza, Nyasaland). 



