16 EINAR LÖNNBERG, BIRDS. 



Species extendiug from East Africa to South Africa 10 %• or also including 



those reaching at least Nyassaland 19 % 



Birds ranging from Abyssinia to East Africa proper hut not further south 14,2 °/o, 



or together with those commou to Somaliland and East Africa 1 7, i » 



Birds belonging to East Africa proper (13.3 %) and partly even reaching tlic 



Central African Lake district 16,1 » 



Remaining species with a somewhat more western affinity 3,8 » 



If it is only considered how many of these species range westward beyond East 

 Africa proper the following result is obtained: Not counting very widely distributed birds, 

 22 species with otherwise varying distribution extend into the Central African Lake 

 district, thus 20,9 % of the lot, but only one of these reaches West Africa proper. 1 



The forests are biologically different in different localities, and as a result of this, 

 the composition of their bird-life is variable as well. Towards the steppe the forest is 

 often broken up in clumps of trees or groves with open spaces, or thickets of bush in 

 between, or it extends as a narrow belt along the rivers. In this thin and sunlit forest 

 which sometimes assumes the aspect of parks certain birds are to be found. Some Fly- 

 catchers as Dioptrornis and Batis paella molitor are found near and around open places. 

 The Paradise-Flycatcher lives also in such localities where the sun shines on its waving 

 tail-feathers when it flits from one tree to another. The African Hopoe frequents chiefly 

 a forest which has more or less the aspect of a park. If thickets of bushes f ill up the inter- 

 spaces between the trees, Laniarius cethiopiciis finds suitable conditions, and its flute-like 

 variable notes are often heard there. Especially at the edge of such forests and where 

 the bushes are do minating among scattered trees Dryoscopus cubla is to be seen, and the 

 Bulbul is numerous. In the sunlit forest Sigmodus retzii graculinus has its haunts, its 

 relative S. scopifrons was found in thicker woods. The Oriole is heard as well at the forest 

 edge as in the thick woods. Vinago frequents the trees along the rivers, and the edge of 

 the forests. The thick-billed Amblyospiza albifrons, Spermestes nigriceps, Parus dlbiventris, 

 Iynx, and the Woodpeckers also prefer less thick forest. Turacus Jiartlaubi is found 

 everywhere from the edge of the forest towards the steppe, and all through the prim- 

 eval forest to the bamboo-region. In impenetrable thickets of green bush Chlorophoneus 

 dohertyi is hidden. When the crowns of the trees meet to a compact roof not admitting 

 the sun-rays to penetrate Trochocercus, and Bias represent the flycatchers in the trees, 

 while Alseonax coerulescens works among the undergrowth, but Alseonax murinus resemb- 

 les a Spotted Flycatcher in its habits and appearance. The »chilp chilp» of Andropadus 

 eugenius is heard everywhere in the thick forest, but the bird itself is hidden in the foliage, 

 and so is the still commoner Phyllostrephus kikuyuensis which appears to be everywhere. 

 In the dusk of the forest it is difficult to ascertain what kind of bird moves among the 

 leaves and several times a Kikuyu Bulbul died for a shot which was hoped to carry down 

 something less common and more valuable. Their other relatives belong also to the thick 

 foliage af the forest. The beautiful Tarsig&r orientalis in its rich yellow and bluish grey 

 plumage is a common occurrence in the thick forest. There the little döve, Aplopelia 

 larvata, walks quietly and silently on the ground, hardly visible among the dry leaves in 



1 To this ought, however, perhaps to be added the western Pomatorhynchus minutus which has been 

 recorded among the waterloving birds, because it was only found in swamps among the rich vegetation there. 



