— 103 — 



Reichenow (Vogel Afr. II. p. 250) gives, for instance 

 the wing as 225—250. The average length of wing for these 

 12 anaounts to 250 mm. One, however, reaches 260 mm. and 

 five to over 250 mm. The length of the bill varies between 

 77 and 100 mm. In two there is no indication of any ex- 

 crescence on the culmen, in others only a little border and so on. 



Irides light yellow. Bill reddish yellow (Jackson, Ibis. 

 1906, p. 516. says that the bill is crimson). Legs dark-grey — black. 



In the stomachs of all of them I found large, dark, hairy 

 larvae and, in two only, a few small stone-fruits. 



Alcedinidae. 



Halcyon cJielicuti chelicuti (Stanl.). — Rchw. II. p. 271. 



Kililio . . . ki-kamba. 



1 (5 ad. 14. 5. Soy, 7.500 ft. - 1 c5 ad. 27. 8. Soy, 7.500 ft. - 



1 (5 juv. 26. 4. ; 1 e jav. 29. 4. Mombasa. 



In the forests and palm-groves around Mombasa this bird 

 was plentiful. 



The young birds from Mombasa are slightly different from 

 the full-grown from Soy, the breast of one of them being without 

 streaks, but having the dark tips of the feathers more sharply 

 defined than in the old On this account it looks as if the breast 

 was furnished with undulating transverse folds. In the other 

 the dark streaks along the flanks are present, but the transverse 

 streak of the breast feathers appear quite plainly. The blue 

 colour on the secondaries is indistinct and mixed with greyish 

 brown, but is clearer and brighter in the old birds. Besides, in 

 the young birds the upper mandible is red only at the base, 

 the remainder being blackish. 



If we compare, without having regard to the different times 

 at which the abovespecimens were shot, the Mombasa specimen 

 with those from Soy, we shall find that the blue on the rump 

 and the upper tail-coverts in the former is very light, shading 

 almost into green, while in the later, especially in the specimen 

 from May, it is a more intensive blue and without any green 

 wash. The dress of the Mombasa specimen however, is abraded 

 and has thus been in use for a long time and is somewhat faded, 

 therefore this difference in colour is quite natural and is of no 

 systematic value whatever. When I passed Soy in July, on my 

 return from Elgon, I was fortunate enough to get another spe- 

 cimen from the same place as that in which the first one was 

 shot, and this individual was then, with reference to the blue 

 part mentioned, similar to the Mombasa specimen. (Compare 

 Foicephalus meyeri saturatus.) 



