LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 590.5 FI V. 39 cop. 3 NATURAL HISTOKV, SURVEY ■ ♦»" •■ .^■v -f FIELDIANA • ZOOLOGY Published by CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Volume 39 February 28, 1958 No. 12 THE RACES OF THE BUSH SHRIKE Dryoscopus cuhla Austin L. Rand Chief Curator, Department of Zoology The bush shrike, Dryoscopus cuhla, is a bird of brush and wood- land of South and eastern Africa. Chapin (1954, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 75B : 63) and Mackworth-Praed and Grant (1955, Eds. East and N. E. Afr., 2: 617) have reviewed the species, with some conflicting views, and it appears that an additional subspecies must be recognized. It is possible that cuhla may prove to be conspecific with gamhensis of northern Africa, but I prefer to keep them separate. The races I recognize are as follows: Dryoscopus cubla affinis Gray, 1837 The bird of coastal East Africa (Juba River-Dar-es-Salaam) with few or no white edgings to the wings. Wing measurements. — Juba River, 76-81; coastal Kenya, 75-84; Zanzibar, 77 mm. This is sometimes kept as a separate species but van Someren's discussion (1932, Nov. Zool., 37: 309) leaves little doubt that it is conspecific with cuhla despite irregularities in intergradation, and our specimens support this view. Dryoscopus cubla nairobiensis, new subspecies Type. — Chicago Natural History Museum no. 116606 from Nai- robi, Kenya, 5400 feet altitude. Adult female, collected June 7, 1908; F. J. Jackson collection. Diagnosis. — Like D. c. affinis in that the female possesses a black spot in front of the eye, but differs in the male, which has the rump more tinged with gray, and differs in both sexes in having more white in the edgings of the secondaries and in the upper wing coverts, and Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 5 8-92 H No. 835 87 88 FIELDIANA: ZOOLOGY, VOLUME 39 being slightly larger. Differs from all the other races in having a black spot in front of the eye (not with lores all white) in the female. Wing measurements. — Kenya: Kijabe, cT 85, 85; Nairobi, cf (10) 81-86 (av. 83.4); 9 (8) 77-81 (av. 79.2); Ukamba, cf 80, 82; 9 80. Tanganyika Territory: Kilimanjaro, cf 80, 83, 84; 9 79; Kilosa, cT 81; 9 77 mm. Range. — Central Kenya from Mount Kenya area, Nairobi area, and Ukamba to Kilimanjaro and south through central Tanganyika to Kilosa. Remarks. — These are the Kenya birds that have usually gone under the name hamatus Hartlaub, which, however, applies only to birds from farther south. All the females whose measurements are listed have a black spot in front of the eye, but the spot is reduced in the Kilosa bird, indicating intergradation with more southern forms. Dryoscopus cubla hamatus Hartlaub, 1863 Like nairobiensis except that the female has no black in front of the eye. The range of hamatus as here understood is: south and southeastern shores of Lake Victoria south through western and southern Tanganyika Territory to the Zambezi in Portuguese East Africa and west through the southern half of the Belgian Congo and most of Northern Rhodesia to northern and central Angola. The type locality of hamatus is Kaseh, south of Mwanzi on the southern shore of Lake Victoria, and being within the range of birds lacking a black spot in front of the eye (see localities below, under Measurements), the name hamatus belongs to this type of bird. An- other name, suahelicus Neumann (1899, Jour. f. Orn., 47: 414), is a synonym. Neumann had specimens from Kakoma and Ugalla (east of Lake Tanganyika and just south of Kaseh), Masai Land, Kili- manjaro and Fort Smith — a mixed series of both hamatus and nairo- biensis. Neumann diagnosed suahelicus as differing from Angola birds (occidentalis= hamatus) on size only (wing 77-81 mm. vs. 84-86 for the latter) and states that the 12 examples from Kakoma and Ugalla have this size; as the other specimens are larger, thus being referred specimens not agreeing precisely with the diagnosis, it seems advisable to restrict the type locality to either Kakoma or Ugalla. I choose Kakoma and consider suahelicus a synonym of hamatus. Though Neumann mentioned variations in size in his series, our specimens show little. Wing measurements. — Kenya: Kericho, cf 82-87; 9 82. Tangan- yika Territory: Mwanza, cf 82; 9 80. Belgian Congo: Haut Lua- /U*^4^ /^V^*'^*' ^^'i-^X P 7 RAND: RACES OF BUSH SHRIKE 89 pula, cT 83, 86; 9 83, 84. Northern Rhodesia: Lundazi, cf 81-87; 9 78-85. Angola (northern and central): cf 84-90; 9 80, 85 mm. The slight average larger size of Angola birds does not necessitate separating them as occidentalis Neumann, 1899. Dryoscopus cubla okavangensis Roberts, 1932 D. c. okavangensis, type locality Maun, is a quite distinct race, as shown by the gray in the forehead and in the back of our seven Bechuanaland females, compared with more northern races (wing: cf 80-87; 9 81-82). Three female specimens in the American Museum from Capelongo and Luvando, southern Angola, agree well with Bechuanaland females. Three females from South West Africa (wing 78, 79, 80), though slightly smaller, are also similar. The range is thus northern Bechuanaland (and probably adja- cent Northern Rhodesia) to South West Africa and southern Angola. Dryoscopus cubla chapini Clancey, 1954 I have not seen this bird from eastern Transvaal. It is appar- ently like cubla but with a red iris. Dryoscopus cubla cubla Shaw, 1809 D. c. cubla, of South Africa, is said to be separable from all the above on the yellow, not red iris; both chapini and cubla differ from the other races in having the rump and flanks tinged brownish in the female. One female seen.