Vol. 5, p. 325-326. September 2, 1930. 



Occasional Papers 



OF THE 



Boston Society of Natural History. 



A ROCK THRUSH NEW TO SCIENCE FROM NORTHERN 

 KENYA COLONY. 



BY HERBERT FRIEDMANN.i 



Among the isolated mountain masses of eastern Africa few that 

 have been so little worked have yielded as many endemic forms 

 as have the Uraguess — Lololokui peaks. The distinctness of their 

 avifauna is so marked that as experienced a worker as van 

 Someren (Nov. Zool. 29, 1922, p. 49) in discussing the races of 

 the Turaco, Turacus hartlauhi, was wiUing to admit the dis- 

 tinctness of a race from Uraguess without having seen any 

 material, '. . . . because the avifauna of that district is 

 most remarkable.' The rock thrush described in this paper 

 is the latest addition to the unusual fauna of this interesting 

 mountain area. 



Petrophila rufocinerea tenuis, subsp. nov. 



Type. — United States National Museum no. 217733; adult male, collected 

 at the summit (6,000 feet) of Mt. Lololokui, on September 15, 1911, by 

 Edmund Heller. 



Subspecific characters. — Generally paler, especially on the breast and 

 abdomen, than either the nominate form or the southwestern Arabian race, 

 sclateri; the dark tips of the rectrices as in sclateri, 10-13 mm. wide. 



Range. — Known only from the type locality. 



Remarks. — In his description of sclateri {Nov. Zool. 24, 1917, 

 pp. 459-460) Hartert writes that there, ^ . . . is probably a 

 third race in East Africa. A male collected by William Doherty on 

 the Escarpment, Kikuyu Mountains, has the brown on the 

 inner web of the outer rectrices nearly 15 mm. wide, and a wing 

 of about 90 mm. A female from the same place has also rather 

 much brown on the lateral rectrices, while two young females 

 are rather brown on the upperside. More material will very 

 likely show the Kikuyu bird to belong to a third subspecies, 



^ Published by permission of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Inst itution 



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'^ US«ARY 



OCT 27 1930 



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