Check List of the Birds of South Africa. 373 



96. SERINUS LEUCOPTERUS (Sharps). 



There is an example of this apparently rare species in the South 

 African Museum a female obtained on September 5, 1884, at Ceres 

 Eoad, about eighty miles from Cape Town, by a Museum collector, 

 Mr. T. D. Butler. It differs from the description given of the type 

 in having no yellow tinge on the forehead, and is somewhat more 

 black on the chin. The wing measures 2-8, and in this agrees with 

 the description given by Shelley (B. Afr. iii. p. 224), but not with that 

 given by Stark. Apart from the type in the British Museum and the 

 example above mentioned no other specimen appears to be known 

 in collections. 



99. ALARIO ALARIO (Linn.). 



Sharpe (Bull. B. 0. C. xcix. p. 80, 1903) has described a new 

 species, A. leucolcema, from Great Namaqualand, the type of which is 

 in the British Museum. It differs from the older known species in 

 having the sides of the forehead, a broad eyebrow, a patch on the 

 cheek, chin, and throat, white. Captain Shelley (Birds Afr. iii. 

 p. 214) considers the new species merely the winter dress of the 

 ordinary Mountain Canary. Reichenow, who has examined a some- 

 what similar specimen from Kaffraria, believes that it is only a sport, 

 or perhaps a young bird. Sharpe, in some further remarks (Ibis, 

 1904, p. 353) on another example from Deelfontein does not consider 

 any of the explanations hitherto advanced satisfactory, and 

 we must, perhaps, await further observations before coming to a 

 definite conclusion on the matter. 



10lA. FRINGILLA CCELEBS (Linn.). 



The Chaffinch was introduced by Mr. Rhodes into the Cape 

 Peninsula at the same time as the Starling, but though occasionally 

 seen is by no means abundant. 



103. PRINGILLARIA CAPENSIS (Linn.). 



Shelley (B. Afr. iii. p. 158) distinguishes the Cape Buntings from 

 Natal and the Transvaal under the name of F. reidi ; these differ 

 in having the paler parts of the head and the under parts very much 

 darker and of a sandy-yellow colour. Sharpe (Ibis, 1904, p. 354) 

 finds that the Cape Buntings obtained by Seimund and Grant at 

 Deelfontein are intermediate between those of the west and those of 

 north and east, and names this form F. media. It will probably be 

 most convenient to consider these forms as merely subspecies, and we 

 shall then have 



Fringillaria capensis typica. Cape div. and Saldanha Bay (S. A. 

 Mus.), Tjotis in Namaqualand (B. Mus.). 



