— 126 — 



one of my specimens (a young bird) agrees with Neumann's 

 form with reference to the colour of the head. 



I have come across this race only in a single locality, a 

 swampy, reed-covered bog, where the birds dew about in the 

 tall, powerful reeds. When I returned from Elgon to Nairobi 

 in September I went there again and then shot in the same spot 

 the last-mentioned individual. 



Reichenow gives (Vog. Afr. II p. 464) as a diagnosis 

 of this family: "die mit anscheinend vollstandigem Schwanz haben 

 nur 8 Federn". This, however, is not correct, for in the three 

 where probably all the tail-feathers are left, there are 10. In 2, 

 where some tail-feathers are shot away, there are only 6 and 8. 

 Even Neumann's form has 10., and so has a specimen pro- 

 cured by Fromm from Iringa (1908). 



Wing, tarsus, 



cfcf 63, 63, 64, 65 mm. 22 mm. 



9 63 mm. 22 mm. 



Irides dark -brown; upper mandible dark -brown; lower 

 mandible, yellowish; legs dark-brown ~ dark-grey. 



Chloropeta similis Richm. — Auk XIV, 1897, p. 163. 

 1 (5 ad. 27. 6., Mount Elgon, 11.000 ft. 



This is one of the birds of the sub -alpine regions, 

 which is found at an altitude of 10000 — 11.000 feet. At this 

 elevation on the eastern slopes of Elgon lives a little negro-tribe, 

 who had burnt down the forests at certain places. In such places 

 only the charred and half-burnt trunks of trees remained and 

 here I met with this rare bird a few times. Two specimens 

 were shot, but one was so badly shattered, however, that only 

 one remains in the collection. At one occasion another specimen 

 was shot in the northernmost ouf])OSts of tlie bamboo-forest but 

 it was impossible to find it in the thicket and brushwood. 



The head and upper -parts are of the sam'e olive-green 

 colour, the innermost upper tail coverts yellow. Tiie lower sur- 

 face yellow. This race has, remarkably enough, 12 tail-feathers 

 (the preceding 10) of about the same colour as the upper sur- 

 face of the body. They are yellow on the edges. 



Irides dark brown; upper mandible dark -brown, lower 

 mandible yellow-grey; legs dark lead-coloured. 



Wing 60 mm., tarsus 23 mm. 



I have compared my specimen with a specimen from Meru, 

 shot by Sjostedt (Wissensch. Erg. Schw. Zool. Exp. Kili- 

 mandjaro-Meru 1905 — 1906, Stockholm 1910, p. 108), found at 

 the Royal Natural History Museum, Stockholm, but can find no 

 difference between them. 



