NO. 1411. BIRDS FROM MOUNT KILIMANJARO— OBERHOLSER. 931 



NECTARINIA TACAZZE UNISPLENDENS Neumann. 



Nedarinia takazze unisplendens Neumann, Journ. f. Ornith., 1900, p. 300 (Kiiinika, 

 Mount Kilimanjaro, East Africa). 



A single adult male from Mount Kilimanjaro, 6,000 feet, December 

 1<), 1889, does not, so far as we can discover, differ much from the 

 descriptions of typical Nectarinia tacazze from Abyssinia,'^' ])ut no 

 specimens of the latter are available. Nectarinia jacl'S(mP is a very 

 dubious form, probabh' nothing more than an individual variation of 

 N. tacazze, and the same is possibly true of unisplendens. 



DREPANORHYNCHUS KILIMENSIS (Shelley). 



Nectar'mia kiUmensIs Shelley, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1884, p. 555 (Mount Kili- 

 manjaro — 5,000 feet — East Africa). 



Seven adult males, from Mount Kilimanjaro, at 5,000 feet altitude, 

 taken in April, June, and August. Doctor Al)bott writes that the 

 species is common at 5,000 feet on the mountain, but is not found at a 

 much greater elevation. 



Tliis species differs very markedly from Nectarinia tacazze in the 

 shorter, much more curved bill, and in the presence of a narrow naked 

 median line on the forehead — in these characters agreeing much more 

 closel}^ with Di'epanorJiynchus relcheiiotvl, although in neither respect 

 (juite so extreme. 



DREPANORHYNCHUS REICHENOWI Fischer. 



Drepanorhyncfnisreichenowi Fischer, Journ. f. Ornith., 1884, j). o6(LakeNaivasha, 

 British East Africa). 



Of this magnificent species Doctor Abbott secured a line series of 13 

 adults — 10 males and 3 females — on Mount Kilimanjaro, at altitudes 

 of 5,000 and 6,000 feet, in April, August, and December. The four 

 males taken in December are much tinged with golden green above, 

 which difference from all the others is very possibly due to season and 

 to the abrasion of the feathers. 



This species has a very strongly curved bill, and in both male and 

 female a narrow naked median line parting the feathers of the fore- 

 head — characters shared by Nectarinia I'lUmensix, and which seem of 

 generic significance. In every one of the other species of Nectarinia 

 examined, and we have seen all except N melanogastra and N. hocagil^ 

 the frontal feathers form almost a straight line across the base of the 

 culmen. 



« Certhia tacazze Stanley, in Salt's Voyage Abyss., 1814, App. iv, p. Iviii (Tacazze 

 River, Tigre, Abyssinia). 



fJ Nectarinia jacksoni Neumann, Ornith. Monatsber., 189!:>, p. 24 (Mau, British East 

 Africa). 



