— Its — 



believe that the individuals shot by v. Someren on the Uganda 

 side of Elgon should no doubt be placed under C. ocularis, 

 already known from Uganda and Ruwenzori, in spite of the fact 

 that this writer styles them C. salvadori and when Dr. v. Someren 

 saw my Elgoo specimens in Nairobi he considered that they also 

 belong to that race. 



A noteworthy feature in C. ocularis is that the male has 

 narrow red rings of skin-folds round the eyes. Whether these 

 are found also in other races of this family I do not know, at 

 least I have not found any statement in the literature on the 

 subject and it is impossible to establish on stuffed or skined 

 birds. 

 ■' Wing, cT 58 mm., 9 57 mm.; tarsus, 18 mm. 



Irides dark-brown; bill black; legs dark brownish grey- 

 brownish-green. 



Estrilda astrild massaica Neum. — Journ. f. Ornithol., 1907. p. 596. 

 4 (5(5 ad. 14.-17. 4.5 1 Q ad. 17. 4. Kiambu. 



Very common in the Nairobi district (see also v. Someren: 

 Ibis 1916, p. 421). 



Neumann, who has described this form, says that it 

 exactly resembles E. a. minor Cab. from Somaliland, Teita, 

 Mombasa and Sanzibar, but is considerably larger, having a 

 wing measurement of 39—43 mm., the latter 46—49 mm. But 

 Reichenow (Vog. Afr. III. p. 181) gives the length of wing 

 as 43 — 47 mm, and if the latter figures are correct, then Lonn- 

 berg (Birds coll. Sw. Zool. Exp. B. E. A. 1911, p. 106), Gurney 

 (Ibis 1909, p. 491) and S c 1 a t e r and Mackworth-Praed 

 (Ibis 1918, p. 443) are right when they style the East African 

 specimens E. a. minor. But this, according to Reichenow 

 (op. cit.) is said to have pure white cheeks, and not a single one of 

 my 6 individuals from Nairobi has these parts of this colour but 

 are pale greyish brown or greyish red. Thus, even if the wing- 

 measurements for the two races in question coincide or are 

 very nearly equal, the two forms differ distinctly in the colour 

 of the cheeks (which Neumann, however, has not emphasised). 

 I am of the same opinion as v. Someren (op. cit.) that the 

 form found in the interior differs from the coastal form and that 

 Neumann's name should be retained for this form, though 

 Sclater & Mackworth-Praed (op. cit. ) make it a 

 synonym of E. a. minor. 



The last-mentioned authors mention, as a character for 

 E. a. minor, that it has "white throat", and as not one of the 

 6 individuals before me has this feature but all have the throat 

 of the same colour as the cheeks, I cannot call mine by this name. 

 Both v. Someren and Prof. Neumann have seen some of 

 my specimens which they unhesitatingly fixed as E. a. massiaca. 



