Vol. 5, p. 251-253. Januahy 20, 1930. 



Occasional Papers 



OF THE 



Boston Society of Natural History. 



THE FORMS OF THE ORANGE-BREASTED BUSH- 

 SHRIKE, CHL0R0PH0NEUS SULFURE- 

 OPECTUS (LESSON). 



BY HERBERT FRIEDMANN. 1 



The Orange-breasted Bush-Shrike is a common, wide-ranging 

 bird of the semi-open forests (i. e., not the true forests) of Africa, 

 and, because of its bright plumage, has been collected in good 

 numbers by many ornithologists. It is a very variable species, 

 both the color and the size characters exhibiting quite a range 

 of diversity. The geographic races are thereby rendered some- 

 what obscure by the relatively great individual, non-geographic 

 variation, but, on the whole, five forms appear to be valid. In 

 each case, the characters are average ones, and it is therefore 

 not surprising that several investigators have decided against 

 them and recognize no subspecific groups. For example, 

 Gyldenstolpe, Kungl. Sv. Vet. Akad. Handlngr., (3), vol. 1, no. 

 3, p. 115-116, 1924, and Sclater and Mackworth-Praed, Ibis, (10); 

 vol. 6, no. 4, p. 632, 1918, are among those who conclude that the 

 individual is greater than the geographic variation in this bird. 



According to Neumann (Journ. f. Ornith. (5), vol. 6, no. 2, p. 

 395, 1899), the type locality of Lesson's Lanius sulfureopectus is 

 to be restricted to Senegal, in which case the races are as follows: 



Chlorophoneus sulfureopectus sulfureopectus (Lesson). 



Range. — Senegal to the Gold Coast and Togoland, east to the 

 Bahr el Ghazal, Upper White Nile districts oi the Sudan, the 

 Uelle district of the Congo, and Uganda. 



Remarks. — This form has the orange pectoral patch fairly well 

 developed, and differs from all the others in having black auricu- 

 lars. It may eventually be found to be divisible into a typical 

 western group, and a paler-breasted Ugandan aggregate. 



'Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



