14 ARKIV FÖR ZOOLOGI. BAND 9. N:0 14. 



52. Deiidropicus guineensis hempriclii Hbmpr. & Ehrbg 



— 1 cT V«j Donya Sabuk. 



This specimen offers some difficulties with regard to its 

 identification. It is not at all suffused with yellowish green 

 above, nor with yellowish underneath. The upper tail-coverts 

 are reddish, inclining to scarlet towards the tips. The flanks 

 and the feathers of the legs are plainly barred with blackish 

 and white. Thus it cannot be referred to D. g. Tiartlaubi, 

 although its length of wing (measured when pressed flat) 

 amounts to 87 mm. 



In the year 1900 O. Neumann shortly described a new 

 subspecies^ which he named Dendropicus guineensis massaicus. 

 This form is said to have the upper side barred with black 

 and white, »schwach gelblich iiberf logen», and »Oberschwanz- 

 decken stets rötlich». It is said to be smaller than the South 

 African form, but exact measurements are not recorded. 

 It might be possible that the present specimen represents 

 this »massaicus», but the subspecies in question has neither 

 been recognized by Reichenow, nor by v, Erlanger,^ al- 

 though both these authors have had the opportunity of 

 looking över all the specimens of the Kgl. Zool. Museum in 

 Berlin. It is, however, more probable that NEUMA]sr]sr's mas- 

 saicus is identical with a specimen which Sjöstedt has col- 

 lected at Kibonoto and referred to D. hartlaubi. This Kibo- 

 noto specimen is just as Neumann says »schwach gelblich 

 iiberflogen» and has reddish upper tail-coverts. It is much 

 less greenish than f. i. Tanga specimens. But the Kibonoto 

 specimen shows anyway more of a yellow tint on the back 

 than the present specimen from Donya Sabuk, in which such 

 a tint is entirely absent. It agrees in fact with my speci- 

 mens of D. hempriclii from the northern thornbush country 

 at Guaso Nyiri, and I think it is a representative of that race 

 which has pushed further south than usually is the case. 

 As both hemprichi and hartlaubi are to be regarded as geo- 

 graphic subspecies, it is rather natural to find connecting 

 links between them, and NEUMAN]sr's »massaicus» may be such 

 a one. 



53. Dendropiciis (lyngipicus) obsoletus ingens Hart. 



— 1 (^ -Vs, Donya Sabuk. 



^ Journ. f. Ornithologie p. 206. 



2 Journ. f. Ornithologie 1905 p. 478—79- 



