— 231 — 



from South Africa under the name of subruficapilla found in the 

 Berlin Museum. But hunteri is undoubtedly closely related to 

 prinioides and resembles it very much and also occurs, according 

 to Reichenow, together with it, 



1 have compared my specimens with the type specimens 

 and others in the Berlin Museum and found that the Kikuyu 

 specimen agrees perfectly with the type, but that those from 

 Elgon are in general somewhat darker. 



The Elgon specimens have as a rule a larger wing-measure- 

 ment than N e u m a n n' s type, but in the Berlin Museum there 

 are prinioides specimens from Meru (collected by Sjostedt) 

 with a wing-measurement of 60 mm. and others have above 

 60 mm. 



Perhaps the Elgon bird is a distinct form which is larger 

 than the others, for it could hardly be distinguished from the 

 others by any other character. But as the figures in the present 

 case vary so considerably I do not yet consider that I am jus- 

 tified in establishing a new form. 



Wing, tarsus, 



60 mm. 23 mm. cf Kikuyu. 



63 mm. 25 ram cf Londiani. 



62, 62, 62, 62, 64, 65 mm. 24-25 mm. cfcf ad. Mount Elgon. 

 60, 61, 63 mm. 24—25 mm. cfcT juv. „ „ 



60, 63, 64 mm. 24 mm. 99 ad. „ „ 



Irides dark brown; bill black; legs pale flesh-coloured (in 

 the young bird, brownish-grey-brownish-yellow. 



Cisticola subruficapilla aequatorialis Mearns. — Smithson. Misc. 

 Coll., vol. 56, No. 25, 1911, p. 2. 



1 (5 ad. 22. 4. ; 1 2 ad. 20. 4. Lake Naiwasha. 



In the grass-country around Lake Naiwasha this race was 

 found in company with others of the same family. 



The male agrees perfectly with Mearn's description of the 

 type specimen from Lake Naiwasha, but the female has not the 

 brownish-black centre on the feathers of the mantle, but is more 

 uniformly dark-brown, nor are the feathers of the head striped 

 with blackish brown. 



Reichenow throws out the suggestion (Journ. f. Orn., 

 1918, p. 104) that aequatorialis coincides with his semifasciata, 

 of which I have examined the type specimen and 6 others in 

 the Berlin Museum collections, and although there are rather 

 great similarities between these two forms I am yet of opinion 

 that they should be kept apart, for as Mearns pointed out this 

 form is considerably larger and besides has not, as semifasciaia, 

 only a black spot on the inner web of the tail-feathers, close to 

 the tip but has a clear band across both webs. 



