62 EINAR LÖNNBERG, BIRDS. 



MusophagidsB. 



Chizaerhis leucogastra 11 upp. 



Rchw. II, p. 33. 



Rather common, although not very numerous, in the thornbush north of Guaso 

 Nyiri. During the dry period when I visited that country they were mostly seen single 

 or in pairs in the tops of the acacias, running along the branches or hopping frön one 

 branch to another, sometimes repeatedly raising and folding the crest on their head. They 

 are not exactly shy but somewhat suspicious and do not admit a close range as a rule. 

 The grey colour of the bird shades very well with the general grey colour of the leafless 

 thornbush, but when they are flying the black and white of the tail is especially conspi- 

 cuous. 



A specimen shot at Njoro 23 /2 had the ovary swelled, so that the pairing appears 

 to take place during the rainy season in the spring (which was said to be belated 1911). 



The sound niost commonly emitted by these birds in the thornbush north of Guaso 

 Nyiri was a loud bleating exactly like that of a sheep. It was so sheep-like indeed as to 

 make me believe more than once that I heard a straying sheep calling, or that some Ren- 

 dile was ludden in the bush with his flocks. Since I had repeatedly learned that the 

 bleating was emitted by Chizaerhis I was convinced that it was the natural sound of this 

 bird which, I think, is known under the name of »Sheepbird» among the few white hunters 

 who visit this desolate country. It was only when I had come home and read Reiche- 

 now's quotation of Fischer 1 that the note of this bird is either a »quacking» »roa» or a 

 mewing, or someting like a hoarse laughing sound that it became clear to me that the 

 bleating of Chizaerhis in the country north of Guaso Nyiri certainly was an imitation of 

 the Rendile sheep. Sjöstedt 2 speaks like Fischer of the »miauende hohe Stimme» of 

 this bird. This is of interest because it proves how the natural note of a bird can be 

 changed through circumstances. Carlo von Erlanger says 3 that the Somalis and 

 Gallas call this bird »Sheepbird » ; it is thus evident that from the Rendile country and 

 northward this bird has the habit of bleating. 



Turacus hartlaubi Fschr. Rchw. 



Rchw. II, p. 42. 



This beautiful bird is common in the forest reserves and other forests which remain 

 round Nairobi, and is sometimes seen even in comparatively small groves among the 

 native shambas, if a real forest is not too distant. 



Fully fledged young birds were shot at the end of December. These young speci- 

 mens are of course less glossy than the adult, the white on the head is less developed, and 



1 Vugcl Afrikas II, p. 34. 



2 Wiss. Ergebn. Zool. Exp. Kilimandjaro : Vögel, p. 82. 



3 Journ. f. Ornith. Jahrg. 1905, p. 434. 



