- 3i - 



light greyish green on the upper side, while the lower side is 

 dark grey. Old birds have the upper side of the feet light 

 brownish green and the lower side dark grey. 



V. Erlanger writes (op. cit.) that adult male birds have 

 the whole of the back black with a green wash, females on the 

 other hand have the feathers of the upper part of the back tipped 

 with brown. This observation is, as far as I can find, quite 

 correct, but when the males get close to the moulting-seasou they 

 are, as regards the colour of the back, exactly like the females. 

 Neither is it so easy to distinguish them by the other character 

 adduced by this writer, viz., that the females lack the black stripes 

 along the upper part of the neck which the males have, because 

 of the three female specimens I have from Kendu only one (pro- 

 bably a young individual) is without them. The other two have 

 them almost as pronounced as the cf specimen. 



In Cat. of Birds vol. XXVI p. 411 a character is given by 

 means of which it is easy to distinguish between d* ad. and 9 ad., 

 i. e. that the former has "the black at the base of the fore-neck 

 and chest not divided from the base of the hind-neck and upper 

 back by a chestnut band, terminating at the shoulder" while the 

 latter has "the black at the base of the fore-neck and chest 

 divided on each side, etc." 



I have myself determined the sex of my specimens and 

 know that there is no uncertainty or doubt about this matter. 



Two of my specimens are in the moulting stage, the others — 

 except the young bird — are in full dress. But the reason why 

 we find this condition in these birds is due to the fact that in 

 Steganopodes, Lariformes the renewal of the big feathers and 

 the small feathers do not coincide with one another, the latter 

 taking place rather rapidly while the former may be going on the 

 whole year round, so that, strictly speaking, all individuals are 

 in moult. In such cases the characterisation of the plumage 

 must be based on the condition of the small feathers. (Strese- 

 mann: Avifauna Macedonica p. XV.) 



Anatidae. 



Thalassiornis leuconotus Eyt. — Rchw. p. I. p. 106. 



Nthambai . . . M-kamba. 

 1 Q 27. 7. Soy. 



10 miles north-west of Soy in the direction of Mount Elgon 

 at an elevation of about 6500 ft. there is a little lake, bordered 

 with a rich and vigorous reed vegetation and surrounded by 

 acacias. On the shores of and in this lake there was an abun- 

 dance of various kinds of birds. 



Among the different species of ducks found here this species 

 was often seen on the edge of the reed-belt, where, in little 



