4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM VOL. 125 
cause any concern, but narokensis was described as much smaller > 
than the average meliphilus as pumilio was than the average ezilis | 
(or willcocksi). As long as narokensis, however, was known from only | 
one or two odd specimens, to decide if it was a taxon in its own right — 
or merely the smallest specimens of meliphilus was impossible. Accord- _ 
ingly, in three different publications (1954, 1955, 1958) I could treat | 
it only as a probable synonym of meliphilus, which, until 1958, was 
still considered to be an eastern, pale, gray-breasted race of evilis. 
As long ago as 1938 Grant and Mackworth-Praed (pp. 143-144) 
examined van Someren’s pair of narokensis from Mt. Moroto and | 
found that the two specimens agreed with Jackson’s type from Mt. 
Doinyo Narok and with Granvik’s specimen form Kacheliba. Grant 
and Mackworth-Praed concluded that comparison with examples of | 
meliphilus ‘clearly show that J. narokensis is a distinct species having 
a smaller bill and a smaller wing measurement ... . It is a very re- 
markable fact that there are two birds so very similar in coloration. . . 
and, although they both occur in the same general area in Kenya 
Colony, it may be found that they inhabit different types of country, 
as Granvik records J. narokensis in tall acacias in dry open country, 
and Moreau records I. e. meliphilus in the vestiges of coastal 
hOres tic wier.t 
I now feel certain that only lack of critical specimens in most of 
the large museums caused Grant’s and Mackworth-Praed’s con- 
clusion to be overlooked. In the absence of such material, it had been 
impossible to test it. At the time of their report, their conclusion 
seemed too remarkable to be likely, and I left narokensis in the un- 
verified synonymy of meliphilus. White (1965) does not even mention 
narokensis, either as a valid taxon or as a synonym—an indication 
that he was content to go along with current disbelief in it. The re- 
markable, and hence unlikely aspect of a distinct species, narokensis, 
being sympatric with meliphilus has, of course, been changed com- 
pletely by Chapin’s findings of three sympatric sibling Indicator 
species in the Congo. In the light of his results, it is not surprising 
that a comparable situation should exist among the small Indicator 
species of eastern Africa. 
In 1957 Mackworth-Praed and Grant (p. 745) again treated naro- 
kensis as a species, smaller and generally paler in color than meli- 
philus, and listed a number of specimen-based locality records: Mt. 
Moroto in eastern Uganda; Kacheliba in Turkanaland, northwestern 
Kenya; Mt. Doinyo Narok, Sokoke Forest, and Malindi, all in 
southern Kenya; and Lushoto, in northeastern Tanzania. Subse- 
quently, I have seen other records that have reported the species 
from Shimba Hills, near Kwale, and southern Guaso Njero, in southern 
Kenya, and from Sigor, West Pokot, western Kenya. With these 
