KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADEMIENS HANDUNGAR. HAND 47. N:o 5. 107 



Lagonosticta brunneiceps ruberrima Rchw. 



Rchw. III, i>. 198. 



Common in the eultivated country in shambas, especially near water. When fche 

 road in such a country crossed a small rivulet in the bottom of a valley it was a very usual 

 sight to see a pair or more of these small red birds near the rivulet. 



Specimens were obtained near Escarpment station, Nairobi, Fort Hall, Meru etc. 



In the inhabited country this little bird was very often, almost regularly seen near 

 the huts of the negroes. 



Lagonosticta brunneiceps somaliensis Salvad. 



Specimens from the thornbush at Guaso Nyiri, below Chanler Falls were somewhat 

 paler than those from the eultivated country and I suppose they have to be counted to the 

 Somali race, although the difference is slight. 



Neisna quartinia nyansse Neum. 



Neum., Journ. f. Ornith. 1905, p. 350. 



Only once I saw this little bird, and obtained a specimen not far south of Meru borna. 

 The pearl-grey colour of the breast proves this specimen to belong to the same race as the 

 Ruwenzori specimen figured by O. Grant. ' The difference is, however, not great and it 

 can hardly be regarded but as a geographic race. That birds from Ruwenzori and Kenia 

 agree is proved more than once by this collection. Reichenow 2 regards N. qu. nyansce 

 and kilimensis identical, and if this finally proves to be the case the latter name has pri- 

 ority. 



In any case the bird represented in my collection belongs to the fauna of the Central 

 African Lake district (and the slopes of Kenia). 



Urseginthus bengalus (L.). 



Rchw. III, p. 207. 



Not very numerous around Nairobi but found here and there usually in thickets of 

 herbs and bushes near eultivated places. As a rule only one or two specimens are seen 

 at a time. It was also found in similar localities at Punda Melia, where a male shot X U 

 was found to have swelled testidés. 



Hypochera ultramarina (Gm.). 



Rchw. III, p. 213. 



The first specimen of this kind that I observed was a male which occupied a very 

 conspicuous position on a dry twig in the top of a tree at the road between Punda Melia 



1 Träns. Zool. Soc. Vol. XIX, Part. 4. 



2 Vogelfauna d. Mittelafr. Seengeb., p. 336. 



