— 153 — 



Zedlitz (J. f. 0. 1911, p. 599) has, however, separated 

 L. ch. massaicus from German East Africa (Neumann, however, 

 gives Guasso Massai by Mau in B. E. A. as the type locality) 

 and L. ch. sycohius from south German East Africa, South & 

 South-west Africa. — v. Someren (Ibis 1916, p. 401) also 

 calls his specimens from Nairobi L. ch. massaicus. 



If we study closely the localities from which Reichenow 

 (Vog. Afr. II. p. 688—689) gives L. chalylaeus {=■ L. massaicus) 

 and L. ch. sycohius (Ptrs.) Hartl, we shall find that both 

 occur at Naiwasha. Reichenow says, however, that both, as 

 regards size and coloration, merge into each other, so that they 

 cannot always be positively distinguished from one another and 

 he may thus have wrongly fixed his birds. 



In the series of 16 specimens which our expedition collected 

 there are great variations in colour and size, even between in- 

 dividuals from the same district. A common feature of them 

 all is: the shoulder patch is clearly marked. Further, most 

 of them have dark transverse bands on the central tail-feathers 

 (less distinct in the more advanced dress or in the moulting 



cT (transition to nuptial dress) Nairobi. 

 cf „ „ „ „ Naiswasha. 



cf (almost full) „ 



cf (full nuptial) „ 



cT „ „ . ! . ! Eldoret. 



cf „ ., Elgon 



cT (somewhat worn) „ 



The measurements for cfd* given byLonnberg (op. cit.) 

 are 147—155 mm. while Mackworth-Praed gives 140 mm. 

 for 1 cT. 



For the 9 specimens the measurements are as follows: 

 Wing, tarsus, 



131 mm. 32 mm. 9 (almost full nuptial plumage) Ngong. 



133 mm. 32 mm. 9 ,. n n >. Kiambu. 

 127 mm. 31 mm. 9 ,, n m „ Naiwasha. 

 135 mm. 33 mm. 9 ,, n v „ Eldoret. 



134 mm. 31 mm. 9 (^^11 nuptial plumage) „ 



The young birds have a wing-measurement of 124 mm. for 

 cT and 127 mm. for 9; tarsus 32, 33 mm. resp. 



The male specimens from Elgon had swollen testes at the 

 end of May (Lonnberg: "end of March"). 



Irides yellow or yellowish red (in juv. brown); bill and 

 legs black. 



