372 TSCHAGRA HABESSINICA 
Immature. Has the crown mingled brown and black; the tail more 
conspicuously banded and the bill paler. 
The Abyssinian Tschagra ranges over north-east Africa 
from Hritrea through Abyssinia south to Lake Margerita, 
and west to the Sobat, and the region of the Upper Nile near 
the junction of the Giraffe River. 
It was first distinguished by Hemprich and Ehrenberg from 
the widespread J’. senegala by its smaller size, but the most 
noticeable character is the absence or faintness of the banding 
of the central tail-feathers and the curious coloration of the 
iris; the latter characteristic was first. noticed apparently by 
Blanford, who found it a common bird on the highlands of 
Anseba and Tigre above 4,000 feet. He describes it as a 
skulking, bush-loving species, with the flight and habits of 
the Bush Babbler (Argya). 
Heuglin also writes at length about Hie species and 
H. renigialis in much the same strain; he found a nest in 
Bogosland in September, 1861, while recently Zedlitz has 
obtained good series of examples from the same region. 
In the south of Abyssinia, in the neighbourhood of 
Harrar, Addis Ababa, and specially the Lake District to the 
south and the Arussi Galla country, it seems to be very 
abundant, and has been met with by Lord Lovat, Pease and 
Degen, as well as by Antinori, Erlanger and Neumann; the 
latter distinguishes these southern Abyssinian examples as a 
distinct subspecies by their larger size (wing 83 to 86 mm., 
v.e., 3°3 to 3°4 against 76 to 78 mm., z.e., 3°0 to 3'1) and their 
somewhat darker colour, and gives as the type locality “Abaja 
See,” ze., Lake Margerita in south Abyssinia. He names 
this form Telephonus senegalus erlangert. 
An examination of the series in the British Museum con- 
firms Neumann’s conclusions, though the distinctions are not 
very marked, nor are they by any means constant. 
