852 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxvm. 



now. If Halcyon sernicieruleKx centralis Neumann" is anything more 

 than an individual variation its range certainly does not include the 

 Kilimanjaro regioji. 



HALCYON ALBIVENTVIS ORIENTALIS (Peters). 



HalcyuiL uriadalis Peters, Journ. f. Urnith., 1868, p. 134 (Inhainbtine, Portu- 

 guese East Africa). 



Four specimens, from Taveta, and Mount Kilimanjaro (5,0(X> feet). 

 Both male and female have the ''iris dark brown; feet red; bill dark 

 red."" One adult male is strongly tinged with ochraceous on the cer- 

 vical band and on the posterior lower parts. All these individuals 

 have at least faint, dusky shaft streakings on the breast, which are 

 much more conspicuous in the females. 



Concerning a pair obtained on Mount Kilimanjaro, Doctor Abbott 

 writes as follows: ''These were brought to me alive b}^ natives who 

 had caught them in their nest hoJe. The stomach of the female was 

 filled with Coleoptera. The nest was 3 feet from the entrance and 

 contained three young birds just hatched." 



HALCYON CHELICUTI CHELICUTI (Stanley). 



Almido [sic] chelicuti Stanley, iu Salt's Voyage Abyss., App. IV, 1814, ''p. Ivi 

 (Chelicut, Abyssinia). 



Four specimens: from Taveta; plains of Taveta; and plains of 

 Mount Kilimanjaro. "Common in the dry plains (of Taveta), June 

 28, 1888." A young bird in first plumage difl'ers from the adults in 

 being more conspicuously tinged with ochraceous on the light portions 

 of the plumage, particularly on the posterior lower surface. 



Family MEROPID^F. 



MELITTOPHAGUS PUSILLUS CYANOSTICTUS (Cabanis). 



Merops cyanostictus Cabanis, von tier Decken's Reisen, III, 1869, p. ;-54 (Mom- 

 basa, British East Africa; and Dschagga, Cterman East Africa). 



MeliUophagus sltarpci Hartert, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, X, 1899, p. xxvii (The 

 Hand, Somali Land). 



Six specimens, from the following localities: "Mount Kilimanjaro, 

 5,000 feet; plains east of Mount Kilimanjaro; Kahe, south of Kili- 

 manjaro; and plains of Taveta. There seems to be no plumage dif- 

 ference between the sexes. "Iris red." 



Two of these birds — one from Kahe, the other from Mount Kiliman- 

 jaro — are perfectly typical cyanostictus; but the remainder are variously 



« Journ. f. Ornith., 1905, p. 189 (Bussissi, Victoria Nyanza). 



''Quoted as "1834" by Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XVII, 1892, p. 2.S9; Shelley, 

 Birds of Africa, I, 1896, p. 117; and Hartert, Novit. Zool., VII, 1900, p. 34. Doctor 

 Reichenow, however, Vogel Africas, II, 1903, p. 271, has it correct. 



