86 EINAR LÖNNBERG, BIRDS. 



to 3 secondaries only, and with the visible parts of the greater number of greater co- 

 verts white. 



If to this is added the fact that white-tailed males were seen in the same localities 

 at Nairobi and Rooruka river, and not far from the locality near Meru borna, where the 

 rufous-tailed specimens were obtained, it must be admitted that these birds exhibit a 

 considerable amount of variation in these parts of British East Africa. 



It is therefore connected with great difficulty to decide which ought to be the proper 

 name for these birds. 



According to Reichenow's standard work »Die Vögel Afrikas » these birds ought 

 to be named Tchitrea viridis, although some characteristics remind about T. perspicillata 

 sudhelica. 



Neumann 1 names the birds from »Nordost-Afrika» Tchitrea viridis ferreti, but at 

 the same time he makes the statement that in the region mentioned there should be 

 no birds with elongated rufous tail feathers for »dieselben (= elongated tail feathers) 

 scheinen bei ferreti immer sofort weiss herauswachsen ». Now it is, of course, somewhat 

 uncertain, how far »Nordost- Afrika » may extend according to the opinion of different 

 authors, but Eritrea must decidedly belong to that region. The R. Nat. Hist. Museum 

 in Stockholm possesses a series of Tchitrea from the country mentioned (from Gheleb) 

 collected by Mr. K. G. Rodén. 



In this series are to be found the following varieties: a) elongated tail feathers white, 

 under tail coverts almost pure white; b) elongated tail feathers white, under tail coverts 

 dark grey; c) elongated tail feathers extending about 16 cm beyond the others, rufous in 

 colour, under tail coverts påle rufous; d) elongated tail feathers extending only about 3 

 cm beyond the others, rufous in colour, under tail coverts påle ashy grey, the longest almost 

 white, washed with rufous. It is evident from this, that as well in Eritrea as in British 

 East Africa rufous-tailed and white-tailed TcÄ^rea-specimens occur side by side and 

 Neumann's statement is erroneous. There might be a slight difference in size between 

 specimens from Eritrea and Brit. East Africa, but even this is not sharply defined. The 

 length of wing in the former birds varies from 85 to 89 mm, but in five specimens from 

 Brit. Africa this measurement is resp. 78, 78, 80, 78 and 84 mm, and Sjöstedt has recorded 

 85 mm for birds from Kilimanjaro. 



For the present it appears thus best to use the same name for East-African and 

 Abyssinian specimens. Reichenow has called the latter T. viridis when describing C. von 

 Erlanger's collections. 2 Oberholser :i again uses the name Tchitrea ferreti for East 

 African birds, which he thinks form »a perfectly distinct species». From T. viridis 

 according to the latter author T. ferreti is said to differ »by the white or at most very påle 

 rufous lower tail coverts; much less uniform lower surface, the abdomen being much paler 

 — on the anal region sometimes even whitish — and the metallic bluish of the throat 

 less extended posteriorly; grayish or rufescent white instead of plain slate coloured lining 

 of wings including axillars; and more extensive white margins of the wing quills and co- 



1 Journ. f. Ornith. 1905. p. 211. 



-' Il.id.. Bd. :-:;. p. (587. 



3 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. Vol. XXX. p. 8()7, 1906, 



