294 ]\Ir. C. II. B. Grant on a Collection of 



Similar to D. h. chrysolaimus, but having the blue of the 

 band across the lower throat, rump, and under tail-coverts 

 much deeper. 



Range. Abyssinia and the Sudan to Uganda. 



155. Melittophagus pusillus cyanostictus. Eastern Little 

 Bee-eater. 



Melittophagus cyanostictus Cab., von der Decken, Reisen 

 in Ost-Afr., Vogel, vol. iii. 1869, p. 31 : Mombasa. 



a, b. (? ad. Mt. Susvva. Sept. 25 & 27. 



c. ^ ad. Amala River, 5400 ft. Oct. 18. 



d,€. $ "^ ad. 12 miles E. of Amala River, 5700 ft. 

 Oct. 26. 



f,g.S^ ad. Kozibiri River, 2400 ft. Jan. 21. 



Total length in Hesh : ^ 7-6| inches; ? 7-6^ inches. 

 Wing: <S 81-83 mm.; ? 80-78 mm. 



These seven specimens are in quite good dress and are 

 only very slightly worn. 



The birds from Mt. Suswa and the Amala River have 

 blue on the forehead, though three have but the smallest 

 indication of it and show no approach to the broad blue band 

 on the forehead of more northern specimens; therefore it 

 would appear that these specimens arc at about the southern 

 limit of the range of this race, and are beginning to merge 

 into the wholly green forehead of M.p. vieridionalis. 



[Irides red ; bill black ; legs and toes blackish flesh, 

 brownish flesh, dirty flesh or dirty grey. Tolerably common 

 everywhere.] 



A careful examination of the large series in the British 

 Museum gives the following results as regards the three 

 races of this Bee-eater : — 



Melittophagus pusillus pusillus. 



Merops pusillus P. L. S. Miill. Linn. Nat. Syst. Suppl. 

 1776, p. 95 : Senegal, ex Buffon. 



General appearance rather more golden than M. p. meri- 

 diunalis ; neck-patch black, with a very narrow line of blue 

 between the black and the yellow throat ; supercilium 

 absent, or only the merest indication ; forehead uniform 



