— 229 — 



Forms belonging to this form-circle are chiefly known from 

 the high mountains of East Africa, although v. Someren 

 (Ibis, 1916, p. 253) found a bird, which he styles simply C pri- 

 nioides, nesting at Nakuru. The first specimen of this race was 

 procured in close vicinity to Kikuyu railway station in a little 

 grove, surrounded on all sides by cultivated land. Later on, a 

 a bird was shot a day's march north of Londiani, at an altitude 

 of about 8.500 feet, in the brushwood growing along the sides 

 of a road. 



On the eastern slopes of Elgon it was common and began 

 to appear at about 11.000 feet, i. e. in the Erica forest. Here 

 it occurred either singly or more usually in small flocks of 4 — 6 

 in number, and frequented the withered, dense scrubby thicket s 

 of the heather, where it was diffiicult to discover. In the smaU 

 bushes of the mountain fields higher up — at about 

 12.000 feet — it was also common and was often seen in the 

 company of Finarochroa sordida rudolphi. The latter was never 

 seen above 13.000 feet above sea-level, but Cisticola prinioides 

 which was one of the few small birds on the still higher regions 

 and one specimen was shot at 13.500 feet by the crater-lake and 

 another at the mouth of the crater itself. It thus seems — in 

 spite of the accidental finds at Kikuyu and Londiani — as if 

 this bird is an alpine being, whose chief vertical range runs to 

 an altitude of about the 11.000 — 13.500 feet (at least on Elgon). 



V. Someren (Nat. Nov., 1918, p. 287) calls specimens 

 from West Elgon C. hunteri and states that he has found it 

 within the Bamboo zone, where I at any rate, never saw it. 



At present the following forms, belonging to this form 

 circle, have been described. 



1. Cisticola prinioides prinioides Neum. 



(Journ. f. Orn., 1900, p. 304) 

 Total length 160 mm., wing 55 mm. 

 Hab. Mau. 



2. Cisticola prinioides neumanni Hart. 



(Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. XH, 1901, p. 13) 

 Hab. Mount Kenia. 



3. Cisticola prinioides Tcilimensis Mearns. 



(Smihson. Misc. Coll., vol. 56, No. 25, 1911) 

 Total length 147 mm., wing 58 mm., tarsus 24 mm. 

 Hab. Mount Kilimanjaro. 



4. Cisticola prinioides wambugensis Mearns. 



(Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 60, No. 20, 1913) 

 Total length 135 mm., wing cf 60, 9 55 mm., tarsus 

 25.5, 24 mm. 

 Hab. South of Mount Kenia. 

 With respect to Jcilimensis Reichenow says (Journ. f. 

 Orn., 1918, p. 104) that it cannot be distinguished from pri- 



