2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6l 



southern Abyssinia, and sometimes lack the red band on the sides of 

 the bill. They are, in fact, intermediate between the forms hypochra 

 and polia, but nearer the latter. 



ESTRILDA RHODOPYGA HYPOCHRA, new subspecies 

 Kapiti Waxbill 



Type-specimen. — Adult male, Cat. No. 213786, U. S. National 

 Museum ; collected between Kapiti Plains Station, Uganda Railway, 

 and camp at Potha, British East Africa, April 27, 1909, by Edgar A. 

 Mearns. (Original number, 15632.) 



Characters. — Similar to Estrilda rhodopyga rhodopyga from 

 northeast Africa, but paler and browner above and below. On the 

 upper parts the cross-bars or vermiculations are fainter, becoming 

 almost obsolete on the under parts. The crown is less grayish, the 

 throat whiter, and the carmine red of the lower back and outer sur- 

 face of wings less restricted. The under parts are isabella color 

 instead of tawny-olive. Bill black, with a trace of red on sides. Size 

 similar to the typical form. 



Measurements of type (adult male.) — Length (of skin), 103; 

 wing, 47; tail, 45; culmen (chord), 9.5; tarsus, 12. 



Average measurements of three adult male topotypes. — Wing, 

 46.7; tail, 44.7; culmen (chord), 9.7; tarsus, 13.3. 



Measurements of adult female (Cat. No. 1 18268, Taveta, British 

 East Africa, Dr. W. L. Abbott) . — Wing, 44 ; tail, 43 ; culmen (chord) , 

 9.6; tarsus, 13. 



Geographical range. — Interior of British East Africa, from 

 Kapiti Plains to Taveta. 



Remarks. — The young of this subspecies have been described by 

 Oberholser. 1 



The subspecies of Estrilda rhodopyga Sundevall are as follows : 



1. Estrilda rhodopyga rhodopyga C. J. Sundevall, Ofversigt af 

 Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens Forhandlingar, Arg. VII, No. 5, for 

 May, 1850, p. 126. Type locality: Northeast Africa (Hedenborg, 

 coll.). 



2. Estrilda rhodopyga polia, new subspecies. Type locality : Gato 

 River, near Gardulla, southern Abyssinia. 



3. Estrilda rhodopyga hypochra, new subspecies. Type locality: 

 Kapiti Plains, British E^ast Africa. 



'Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXVIII, No. 141 1, July 8, 1905, p. 880. 



