— 56 — 



colour of the throat and lower part of the body is dark bluish 

 grey in old birds, but light grey in young ones, and the light 

 reddish grfiy of the fore-neck in young birds shades in older 

 birds into an almost dark rust-coloured tint. 



Reichenow states (op. cit.) that the light T. delagorguei 

 has the fore-neck and occipit copper-red with a violet-red gloss, 

 but T. d. sharpei a metallic green gloss. Three of my specimens 

 should, according to this description, be true T. d. sharpei and 

 two T. delagorguei^ inasmuch as the latter are clearly violet and 

 copper-coloured. 



Rothschild says, with reference to T. d. sharpei (Nov. 

 Zool. 1894, p. 41), that it has "head, hind-neck and sides of neck 

 bright metallic green, with a violet gloss in some light". 



1 therefore consider that this character with various me- 

 tallic glosses is not characteristic of any of these sub-species, 

 but that the variations in this respect are due to the difference 

 in age, as I find both the above shades of colour in individuals 

 shot on the same day. 



Irides of both males and females are reddish yellow (colour 

 of the yoke of an egg) in young birds, but in old ones it as- 

 sumes a red-lilac colour. 



Legs in both sexes pale flesh-coloured. 



The female is dark slate-coloured on the back. The crown 

 and back of the head are cinnamon-brown, occasionally with a 

 red lilac or green copper gloss, forehead greyish brown. In 

 young females the fore-neck and the whole under-surface of the 

 body are dirty yellowish brown with a pale grey mottling, and 

 the undertail coverts which in old females are dark slate-coloured, 

 are yellowish brown. 



The Elgon specimens of this dove are quite different from 

 those from Kilima-Ndjaro. When comparing my specimens from 

 Elgon with the latter (in the Berlin Museum) I found that they 

 had the chin reddish brown and that almost the whole of the 

 lower part of the body was of the same colour. 



The young bird (9) has the tips of the wing-coverts, as 

 well as the fore-neck and all the feathers of the lower part of 

 the body, rust-coloured, The lower tail-coverts are, moreover, 

 uniform rusty-brown. The fore-neck and occipit are dark slate- 

 coloured without any shade of cinnamon-brown or other brown- 

 ish tint whatever. Hind neck green glossy. 



Tympanistra tympanistra Tern. — Rchw. I. p. 424. 

 1 (5 17. 4. Kiambu. 



This pigeon was rather common in the small cocoanut groves 

 in the vicinity of Mombasa. 



It also occurred quite commonly in the environs of Nairobi. 



