SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOLUME 61, NUMBER 9

DESCRIPTIONS OF THREE NEW AFRICAN

WEAVER-BIRDS OF THE GENERA

ESTRILDA AND GRANATINA

BY

EDGAR A. MEARNS

Associate in Zoology, U. S. National Museum

(Publication 2236)

CITY OF WASHINGTON

PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

JULY 31, 1913
Zfyt Bovi (gattimovz (preee

EALTIMORE. MD.. U. S. A.
DESCRIPTIONS OF THREE NEW AFRICAN

WEAVER-BIRDS OF THE GENERA

ESTRILDA AND GRANATINA

By EDGAR A. MEARNS

ASSOCIATE IN ZOOLOGY, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM

This paper is the nineteenth dealing with the results of the Smithsonian African Expedition under the direction of Col. Theodore

Roosevelt. It includes one new form from the collection of the Childs Frick African Expedition.

The names of special tints and shades of colors used in this paper conform to Robert Ridgway's " Color Standards and Color

Nomenclature," issued March 10, 1913. All measurements are in millimeters.

ESTRILDA RHODOPYGA POLIA, new subspecies Gato Waxbill

Type-specimen.—Adult male, Cat. No. 247436, U. S. National

Museum; collected on the Gato River, altitude 4,000 feet, southern

Abyssinia, May 2, 1912, by Edgar A. Mearns. (Original number,

21687.)

Characters.—Similar to Estrilda rhodopyga rhodopyga from northeast Africa, but more heavily cross-barred above and below, whiter on the throat, and paler on the chest and abdomen. From Estrilda

rhodopyga hypochra 'Mearns (described below) it differs in being

much more heavily cross-barred above and below, and grayer on the

upper surface. The bill of typical E. r. polia differs from other subspecies in having a broad red band on the sides. Measurements of type (adult male) . —Length (of skin) , 100 ; wing,

46; tail, 45; culmen (chord), 10; tarsus, 12.5. Geographical range.—Lowlands of southern Abyssinia and adjacent region of Somaliland (Dr. A. Donaldson Smith), south to Mount

Lololokui (Edmund Heller), the northern Guaso Nyiro River, and

Mombasa, British East Africa (Dr. Glover M. Allen).

Remarks.—Specimens from the coast and adjacent portion of British East Africa are slightly darker than those from Somaliland and

Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 61, No. 9
2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6l

southern Abyssinia, and sometimes lack the red band on the sides of the bill. They are, in fact, intermediate between the forms hypochra

and polia, but nearer the latter.

ESTRILDA RHODOPYGA HYPOCHRA, new subspecies

Kapiti Waxbill

Type-specimen.—Adult male, Cat. No. 213786, U. S. National

Museum ; collected between Kapiti Plains Station, Uganda Railway,

and camp at Potha, British East Africa, April 27, 1909, by Edgar A. Mearns. (Original number, 15632.)

Characters.—Similar to Estrilda rhodopyga rhodopyga from

northeast Africa, but paler and browner above and below. On the

upper parts the cross-bars or vermiculations are fainter, becoming

almost obsolete on the under parts. The crown is less grayish, the

throat whiter, and the carmine red of the lower back and outer sur- face of wings less restricted. The under parts are isabella color instead of tawny-olive. Bill black, with a trace of red on sides. Size

similar to the typical form.

Measurements of type (adult male.) —Length (of skin), 103;

wing, 47; tail, 45; culmen (chord), 9.5; tarsus, 12. Average measurements of three adult male topotypes.—Wing,

46.7; tail, 44.7; culmen (chord), 9.7; tarsus, 13.3. Measurements of adult female (Cat. No. 1 18268, Taveta, British East Africa, Dr. W. L. Abbott) . —Wing, 44 ; tail, 43 ; culmen (chord)

,

9.6; tarsus, 13. Geographical range.—Interior of British East Africa, from

Kapiti Plains to Taveta. Remarks.—The young of this subspecies have been described by

Oberholser.

1 The subspecies of Estrilda rhodopyga Sundevall are as follows

:

1. Estrilda rhodopyga rhodopyga C. J. Sundevall, Ofversigt af Kongl. Vetenskaps-Akademiens Forhandlingar, Arg. VII, No. 5, for May, 1850, p. 126. Type locality: Northeast Africa (Hedenborg,

coll.).

2. Estrilda rhodopyga polia, new subspecies. Type locality : Gato

River, near Gardulla, southern Abyssinia.

3. Estrilda rhodopyga hypochra, new subspecies. Type locality:

Kapiti Plains, British E^ast Africa.

'Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXVIII, No. 141 1, July 8, 1905, p. 880.
NO. 9 THREE NEW AFRICAN WEAVER-BIRDS—MEARNS 3

4. Estrilda rhodopyga centralis Konrad Kothe, Ornith. Monatsb.,

XIX, No. 4, April, 191 1, p. 70. Type locality: Kissenje, north shore

of Lake Albert, Uganda.

5. Estrilda rhodopyga frommi Konrad Kothe, Ornith. Monatsb.,

XIX, No. 4, April, 191 1, p. 70. Type locality : Karema, Lake Tanganyika.

GRANATINA IANTHINOGASTRA ROOSEVELTI,1 new subspecies Roosevelt's Cordon-bleu Type-specimen.—Adult male, Cat. No. 214634, U. S. National

Museum ; collected on the Southern Guaso Nyiro River, Sotik District, British East Africa, June 14, 1909, by Edgar A. Mearns.

(Original number, 16045.)

Characters.—Larger than Granatina ianthinogastra iantliinogastra or G. i. hawkeri. Males, compared with typical ianthinogastra from

the Tana River, British East Africa, are decidedly more grayish on

the mantle, less rufescent on the head, and with darker, more brownish under wing-coverts and edging to the under surface of the inner

webs of the quills. Granatina ianthinogastra hawkeri, the only pre- viously described form of this species, inhabits the desert regions of Somaliland, and is slightly distinguished from typical ianthinogastra

by its paler coloration, adult males having the mantle and wings paler

grayish brown, and the head paler and more ochraceous than in the

other forms. Females of roosevelti show differences, similar to those

mentioned above, in the coloration of the upper parts ; the feathers surrounding the eye are bluish instead of pale lilac ; and the lower

abdomen and crissum are dark, with no trace of the whiteness or pale

rustiness which those parts invariably present in ianthinogastra and

hawkeri.

Measurements of type (adult male).-—Length (of skin), 130;

wing, 60; tail, 70; culmen (chord), 12 ; tarsus, 18. Geographical range.—Sotik District, British East Africa.

Remarks.—The three subspecies of Granatina ianthinogastra are represented in the material before me by 50 specimens, obtained at

localities ranging from northern Abyssinia south to the plains east of

Mount Kilimanjaro and west to the Sotik District of British East

Africa. Series of topotypes of each form are included in this collection, the greater part of which was gathered by the author and others on the Childs Frick African Expedition, 1911-12.

1 Named in honor of Col. Theodore Roosevelt, leader of the Smithsonian

African Expedition.
4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6l

The salient differences in the three forms of Granatina ianthinogastra mav be stated as follows

:

Granatina ianthinogastra