128 EINAR LÖNNBERG, BIRDS. 



Pratincola salax (axillaris [Shell.]). 



Rchw. III, p. 733. 



Wing of a male from Nairobi 69 mm and that of another male from Escarpment 

 71 mm. A female shot together with the latter in a place, wherethe former cedar-f orest 

 had been completely cut down, had the length of wing 72 mm. or the maximum quoted 

 by Reichenow for this subspecies. In a låter work, however, Reichenow 1 does not 

 accept P. s. axillaris as a constant subspecies. 



Common around Nairobi in localities with low bushes and partly open ground. 

 Common as well around Escarpment station in similar localities. 



Alcippe abyssinica (Ritpp.). 



Rchw. III. p. 741. 



Specimens of this species were obtained in the forest near Meru borna as well in 

 January as in March, and in the former month the males were found to have the testidés 

 swelled. 



This species is a forest-bird ranging from Abyssinia to Kilimanjaro, but closely 

 related to a species known from Cameroon and Fernando Po. 



Alethe poliocephala akeleyse Dearborn. 



Rchw. III, p. 746 & Dearborn, Field Mus. Publ. 135, p. 170. 



When marching through the primeval forest on the eastern slopes of Kenia in the 

 end of January 19111 shot an adult female, and a fledged young in the spotted dress. Two 

 months låter 22 /s T shot an adult female, and a fledged young in a similar stage of develop- 

 ment in the forest at Meru bom a. 



It was of very great interest to obtain specimens of this West African bird, — which 

 formerly was known in its typical race from Fernando Po and Cameroon, and which just 

 lately has been refound 2 in the »Urwald nordwestlich Beni», - - so far east just at the 

 easternmost boundary-line of the tropical forest region on Eastern Kenia. It is one of the 

 proofs for the extension of a part of the western forest-fauna as far as the forest goes, 

 even if this race found on Kenia deserves a subspecific name which it has received from 

 Dearborn. 3 It is also most probably the same bird which F. J. Jackson has distinguished 

 under the name of Alethe kikuyuensis. i The latter author says about his bird from 

 the Kikuyu Forest: »Near A. carruthersi, Grant, but somewhat larger, and with the gene- 

 ral colour of the upper parts, especially of the mantle, more olive and less rufous; the ear- 

 coverts are grey like the crown, and are not washed with olive, as in A. carruthersi». This 



1 Yogclfauna Mittelafr. Seengebietes, p. 369. 



- Reichenow: Vogelfauna Mittelafr. Seengebietes, p. 371. 



:; Field. Mus. Nat. Hist. Ornithology, Vol. I. p. 170. Chicago 1909. 



4 Bull. Brit. Ornith. Club, Vol. XXVII, No. CLXIII, p. 7. Nov. 1910. 



