^'- ■ 218 



men, a female, has a wing of 80 mm. Therefore the inland bird 

 with longer wings is the typical form. 



Amadina fasciata Candida, subsp. nov. 



Type. — No. 232923, Museum of Comparative Zoology, adult male, from 

 Taveta, Kenya Colony. Collected April 4, 1925, by H. Friedmann. 



Subspecific characters. — Male: similar to Amadina fasciata alexanderi but 

 browner above and below; the mantle less streaked, more uniform; and the 

 bill slightly shorter. Female: similar to alexanderi but browner above and 

 below, and bill slightly smaller. 



Description of type. — Head avellaneous, changing gradually into wood brown 

 on the occiput and hind neck, all the feathers with sub terminal black bars; 

 scapulars and interscapulars walnut brown, the anterior interscapulars with 

 subterminal bars, the others with only faint indications of such bars; back and 

 rump pecan brown, merging anteriorly into walnut brown, the feathers faintly 

 barred sub terminally with black; upper tail-coverts light ochraceous-buff 

 with black subterminal bars; tail fuscous-black, the middle pair of rectrices 

 washed with grayish for the basal three-quarters, narrowly edged with light 

 grayish and narrowly tipped with pale ochraceous-buff ; the rest of the rectrices 

 broadly tipped with pale ochraceous-buff on their inner webs and narrowly 

 tipped with the same color on their outer webs, the outermost pair of rectrices 

 with the entire outer web pale ochraceous-buff; lesser wing-coverts pecan brown 

 with black subterminal spots; the middle coverts pale fuscous-black with 

 brownish buff shaft streaks, ochraceous-buff tips, and V-shaped black subtermi- 

 nal bars; the greater coverts pale fuscous-black with wide ochraceous-buff 

 tips, the black subterminal marks restricted to the outer webs; remiges fuscous- 

 black, externally margined and tipped with ochraceous-buff, the tips narrow on 

 the primaries and outer secondaries and broad on the inner secondaries; black 

 subterminal bands present on the inner secondaries only; sides of head and 

 chin whitish, with a broad band of crimson extending from the auriculars across 

 the cheeks and upper throat; lores dusky brownish; lower throat, breast, flanks, 

 abdomen, and under tail-coverts pale fawn color, darkest on the breast, flanks, 

 and thighs, and fading to light buff on the lower abdomen; center of abdomen 

 pale Mars brown; bill dark brown; feet reddish brown; iris brown. 



Measurements. — Adult male (type): wing, 65; tail, 41; tarsus, 13; culmen 

 from base, 9.5. Adult female: wing, 63; tail, 38; tarsus, 13; culmen from base, 

 9.5. (In three males of alexanderi, culmen from base measures 10-10.5 (10.3); 

 in one female, 10.) 



Range. — The lowlands of Kenya Colony (and probably of 

 Tanganyika Territory) . 



Remarks. — Judging by Van Someren's statement (Novitates 

 Zoologicae, vol. 29, p. 146, 1922) that his birds seemed to have 

 browner mantles than specimens from Abyssinia and South 

 Ethiopia, it seems that his series is all Candida. His birds were 

 collected at Taveta, Simba, Tsavo, Magadi, and Kisumu. 



In Kenya Colony Amadina fasciata alexanderi ranges at least as 

 far south as the Mweru River (between Mount Kenya and the 



