Vol. 5, p. 217-219. December 10, 1926 



Occasional Papers 



OF THE 



Boston Society of Natural History. 



THREE NEW AFRICAN BIRDS. 

 BY HERBERT FRIEDMANN. 



While working on the birds I collected in Africa during 1924 

 and 1925, 1 found it advisable to recognize two new subspecies and 

 one new species, which are described below. 



Paras albiventris curtus, subsp. nov. 



Type. — No. 232685, Museum of Comparative Zoology, female, from Taveta, 

 Kenya Colony. Collected April 13, 1925, by H. Friedmann. 



Subspecific characters. — Similar to Parus albiventris albiventris but smaller, 

 with shorter wings. 



Description of type. — Head, neck, scapulars, interscapulars, back, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts dark blackish brown; median wing-coverts white; greater 

 wing-coverts and the remiges edged with white on the outer webs, the white 

 edges of the inner primaries and outer secondaries shaded with ashy; sides of 

 head, chin, and throat dusky brownish; breast and flanks ashy black, mixed with 

 brown on the breast and fading to dark bluish gray on the lower flanks; ab- 

 domen and under tail-coverts whitish; tail black, the outermost pair of rectrices 

 with the outer webs white except at the base, where they are blackish; bill 

 black; feet dark slate color. 



Measurements of type. — Wing, 75; tail, 53; culmen from base, 10; tarsus, 15.3. 



Range. — The coast districts of Kenya Colony inland to Taveta. 

 Specimens known from Sagala and Samburu (Van Someren) and 

 Taveta. 



Remarks. — Dr. van Someren (Novitates Zoologicae, vol. 29, 

 p. 205, 1922) noticed that birds from the coastal region are smaller 

 than specimens from the uplands of Kenya Colony, and expressed 

 the opinion that, with more material, the coastal birds would 

 prove to be a smaller race. He gives the following wing measure- 

 ments: coastal males, 75-77; upcountry males, 83-86; upcountry 

 females, 80-82. My Taveta bird (a female) has a wing of 75 mm., 

 while a male from Morijo has a wing of 84 mm. Taveta is in the 

 low thorn-bush plain about 120 miles inland, while Morijo is in the 

 high inland plateau of East Africa. The discrepancy in size in 

 my specimens, corresponding with that reported by Van Someren, 

 justifies the recognition of the coastal bird as a distinct form. 

 Parus albiventris was originally described by Shelley from Ugogo, 

 in the inland plateau of Tanganyika Territory, and the type speci- 



