— 250 - 



Saxicolinae. 



Thamnoloea alhiscapnlaia s?ihri(fipennis Rchw. — 

 Rchw. HI. p. 702. 



Thavinolaea subrufipennis Rchw. v. Someren : Ibis, 1916, p. 465. — 

 Thnmnolaea albiscapulata subrufipennis. Sclater k M.-Praed : Ibis, 

 1918, p. 683. 



1 g ad. 3. 6. Mount Elgon. 



I saw this bird only ou one single occasion. In the scrub 

 below the eastern slopes of Kigon, outside one of the large caves 

 found here and there, ureat numbers of Hyrax were found 

 among the piled-up rocks and stones. While I lay wai- 

 ting to get a shot at these animals there suddenly flew out 

 of a crevice between two large rocks a female Thamnolaea sub- 

 rufipennis and began to run and hop about the stones in an 

 agitated manner. With tail uect and drooping wings it ran 

 back and foie but soon disappeared into the same crevice, from 

 which on later occasions some Eyrax appeared. The bird bad 

 its nest in an inaccessible position under the large rocks and 

 could reach the nest by different ways, in which I heard the 

 nestling twittering. 



The female was in moult and this is the second case I 

 have met with out here of a nesting bird changing its dress 

 (vide Centropus senegalensis incertus). The specimen differs 

 somewhat from Reich enow 's description (op. cit.) in the 

 feathers of the throat and neck being greyish black with rust- 

 brown tips, becoming lighter towards the chin. 

 Wing 105 mm.; tarsus 28 mm. 



Irides dark-brown; bill and legs black. 



Myrmecocichla aethiop^ cryptoleuca Sliarpe. — 

 Rchw. III. p. 706. 



Nanda kikumbu . . . ki-suaheli. — Yanga . . . ki-kamba. 



2 (5^ ad. 14. 4. Kiambu. - 2 $6 ad- 10- 5. Eldoret. - 2 (5(5 ad. 6. 6., 



11. 7. Mount Elgon. — 1 Q ad. 14. 4. Kiambu. — 1 Q ad. 10. 5. Eldoret. — 



1 P ad. 26. 7.; 1 ^ juv. 6. 6.; Mount Elgon. — 1 (5 juv. 9. 8. Eldoret. 



This bird, common everywhere, was met with both in the 

 open grass-countiy and in the acacia areas and it was very abun- 

 dant in the bush country below the eastern slopes of KIgon. 



In the series of 11 skins brought home there are scarcely 

 two which are alike. Thus, those from the Kikuyu- country 

 (Kiambu) are dark blackish brown above and below, and I cannot 

 discern any difference in the tint. These, then, seem to be true 

 cryptoleuca. Those from Eldoret are considerably lighter and 



