KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDUNO\K. »AND 47. VM 5. 



73 



place it appeared to live peacefully vvith its larger congener L. floriroslris. In t lic later 

 part of February this Hornbill was found in moult at Njoro. 



As Sharpe has regarded the birds from Somaliland to represen t a smaller race ••/.. 

 medianus» the following measurements may be of some interest. 



Length of wing Tai] Culmen 



^ from Luazomela 18S mm. 217 mm. 92 mm. 



197 » 214 » 100 



» » Njoro 189 214 82 



181 » 219 85 » 



184 » 218 » 83 » 



$ » in moult .... 187 » 184 » 64 



Reichenow has recorded l the length of wing to be 170 — 195 mm., the length of tail 

 to be 190 — 230 mm., and the length of culmen to be 70 — 90 mm. The measurements of 

 my specimens do not appear to indicate any 

 especially small size. The wing and the tail 

 of the specimens from the acacia-steppe have 

 about the same dimensions as those from the 

 thornbush, but the culmen of the former is de- 

 cidedly shorter than that of the latter. The bill / //^^ 



of the specimens from the acacia-steppe has a 

 long slender tip which is missing in the birds 

 from the thornbush and most probably worn 

 away in the latter. This fact may stånd in 

 connection with the different conditions of the 

 soil in the two different localities. In the acacia- 

 steppe, although in many places, black, sharp Z s 0^ ss ^ isa ^ BSaB ^ s ^^S 

 stones of volcanic origin are very numerous, the / /y^^ 

 ground consists partly of red clay, partly of a ' /r 

 very soft soil in which a walking man in some 



places may sink down över his ankles. In the 



. i.» hig. 2. a The bal ot Lophocerus nietanoteiicus 



thornbush-country again the ground is formed frora t i ie country north of Guaso Nyiri . b of the 



of a very härd bed of gravel, coarse sand, and same species from the southern side of the same 



quartz-pebbles. A bird which picks 011 the 



ground must therefore wear the tip of its bill much more in the latter locality, and this, I 



think, is a plausible explanation of the differences in length and shape of the bilis of these 



Hornbills as recorded above. 



Alcedinidae. 



Halcyon chelicuti (Stanl.). 

 Rchw. II. p. 271. 



Not uncommon 011 the acacia-steppe south of Guaso Nyiri (for instance at Luazo- 

 mela river, and near the förd 011 the Marsabit-road) but also along this river even below 

 Chan l er Fall s. 



1 Yögel Afrikas II, p. 2b3. 



K. Sv. Vet. Akud. Handl. Band 47. N:o r>. 10 



