KTJNfiL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDUNGAR. HAND 47. N:<> 5. ."t!) 



Otididae. 



Otis sp. (0. kori Burch.?). 



Great Bustards were seen several times but I never could approach them near enough 

 to secure a specimen even with the rifle. Therefore I cannot tell to which species they 

 belonged, but it appears most probable that it was O. kori. 



One specimen was seen on the grass-steppe between Luazomela and Itiolu rivers. 

 Another near Lekiundu river, and still anotherwas observed on a grass-covered plain in 

 the thornbush-country north of Guaso Nyiri. 



Otis canicollis canicollis Rcnw. 



Rchw. I, p. 250. & III, p. 802. 



In the year 1905 C. von Erlanger drew 1 attention to the fact that this Bustard 

 occurred in two well defined zoogeographical subspecies, a northern which is more reddish 

 or rust-coloured above, and a southern which is paler and more sandcoloured. The 

 author quoted believed that the type of O. canicollis Rchw. belonged to the southern race, 

 and in consequence of this he named the northern race O. canicollis so?naliensis. Reiche- 

 isrow himself pointed out somewhat låter 2 that von Erlanger had committed an error 

 in naming the two races as above, because the type of O. canicollis really belonged to the 

 northern race. Reichenow thus proved that the correct name of the northern race is 

 O. canicollis canicollis, and he named the southern race O. canicollis erlangeri. 



The second of Febr. 1911 when I was camping on the grass-covered acacia-steppe 

 at Luazomela river I flushed and shot a small Bustard, and was delighted to find that it 

 was a representative of the northern Somalirace, as its rich colours prove. In fact, the 

 colours of the specimen shot at Luazomela river agree completely with von Erlanger's 

 plate of his »O. c. somaliensis» (1. c. Taf. II, Fig. 2). It is thus evident that the distribu- 

 tion of the northern race reaches as far south as just across Guaso Nyiri and almost to the 

 foot-hills of Kenia on the northern side in the same way as many other members of the 

 Somalifauna. 



My specimen is a male. Length of wing 314 mm, tarsus 101 mm. Iris brown. 



I saw several specimens of the same kind in this steppe-country, but did not secure 

 any more. Its note had a pure sound of ä. 



Otis gindiana (Oust.). 



Rchw. I, p. 253. 



This blackbellied Bustard was a rather common bird in the thornbush north of 

 Guaso Nyiri. It was observed every day during my excursions in that country, if the 

 thornbush was dense. Very often it arose in the air beyond range for a shotgun, and it 

 was astonishing to see how noiselessly and without struggle it ascended and went off. 



1 Journ. f. Ornith., p. 81. Taf. II. 

 - Vögel Afrikas III. p. 802. 



