MR. A. LOVERIDGE ON EAST APKICAN HIRDS, 837 



37. Notes on East African Birds (chiefly nesting habits and 

 stomach contents) collected 1915-1919. By Arthur 

 LoVERIDGE, F.E.S., O.M.Z.S. 



[Received October 22, 1922 : Read November 21, 1922.] 



The following notes ai-e based on a collection of about a 

 thousand skins representing 51 families, 216 genera, and 402 

 distinct species, besides several hundred eggs; it does not include 

 a collection made in Uganda, but refers to tliose from the coastal 

 colonies — Kenya Colony (then B.E.A.) ; Tanganyika Territory 

 (then G.E. A.) ; Portuguese East Africa ; ISTatal. 



No object would be served iu publisliing the whole list of 

 species, and the following field- notes selected from my diary 

 relate to the nesting habits, stomach contents, European 

 migrants, and other items of general interest. 



The principal localities mentioned in the following pages 

 are : — 



Kenya Colony — Bissel, Fort Hall, Frere Town, Kabete, 

 Kedong Valley, Kijabe, Lake Naivasha, Nairobi, Voi. 



Tanganyika Territory. — Dar-es-Salaam, Dodoma, Kongwa, 

 Longido West, Makindu (Msiha River), Morogoro, Mpwapwa, 

 Mt. Meru, Ngari Mtoni, Soke Nassai, Tabora, Uluguru Mts. 



Portuguese East Africa. — Lorenzo Marques, Lumbo (mainland 

 opposite Mozambique). 



Natal. — Durban. 



I should like to take this opportunity of thanking Dr. V. G. L. 

 van Someren, Dr. Hartert, and Mr. Arthur Goodson for 

 undertaking the identification of many of the specimens. To 

 Dr. Hartert, I am also indebted for his kindness in correcting 

 proofs and seeing these notes through the press. 



Some half-dozen new species or races contained in the collection 

 have been described by Dr. van Someren. 



Nectarinia reichenowi Fisch. 



This Sun-bird is particularly associated in my mind with the 

 red inflorescences of Leonitis leonurus, of which it is particularly 

 fond. Clinging to the stem of one of these plants, the bird 

 rapidly runs around the circlet of red flowerlets, in quick 

 succession driving its beak into the tube-like bases of the flowers 

 and passing on to the next till that particular plant is 

 exhausted (Kijabe, 26. vi. 15). 



Chalcomitra senegalensis in^stimata Hartert. 



The species has a very wide distribution in East Africa, having 

 been met with in strikingly difierent types of country. In 

 captivity it does well on sugar slightly moistened ; to this I added 



Prog. Zool. Soc— 1922, No. LVIL 57 



