( 503 ) 



whether this bird belongs to tephronotus or to a new form inhabiting the Tanganyika 

 plateau — to which the birds from Kiboudo, Lnalaba, aud Lukumba would also 

 belong- — and more material is required. 



43. Ploceus bicolor nandensis (Jackson). 



Syenbrntus nandensis Jackson, Ibis. 1899. p. 615. 



Apparently spread over Uganda. 



Mr. Rnd. Graner sent four skins from Mpanga Forest in Toro. _il four 

 are marked as males, but evidently one of them is a female, as the featL-rs of the 

 middle of the throat, nearly up to the chin, are only black at base, being widely 

 tipped with yellow. The three others have the whole throat black for about 1 J cm., 

 the feathers of the adjoining upper portion of the jngulum being black, tipped with 

 yellow. In the middle of the chest is a more or less conspicuous longitudinal 

 black patch. Upperside slate-grey, upper tail-coverts in the female distinctly, 

 in the males hardly tinged with greenish. Head deep black ; lesser upper wing- 

 coverts and bastard wing to primary coverts black. 



Wing, <J S 78—83, ¥ 72 mm.' 



" Angen rot, Schuabel schiefergrau, an den Randern weiss ; Fusse hellbraun." 



44. Ploceus bicolor mentalis (Hart!). 



Symple.ctes mentalis Hartlaub, Jouru. f. Orn. 1891. p. 314; cf. Reichenow, Yuij. Afr. iii. p. 35. 



S ad., Buguera near Wadai, 23. iii. 1889. Emiu Pasha coll. " Long. tot. 

 181 mm., rostr. a fronte 18, al. 87, cand. 50, tars. 18; iride coccinea ; tarso 

 caerulesceute plumbeo ; pedibus rubellis." 



It appears that only this single skin from the Bahr-el-Djebel is hitherto 

 known. It differs from P. b. nandensis in being larger (wing in the flesh 87, 

 in skin 800 mm.), and in liaviug the feathers of the middle of the throat yellow, 

 at base whitish. It is apparently an inhabitant of the valley of the Balir- 

 el-Djebel. 



It is a mistake to unite this bird with P. b. nandensis. The greater extent 

 of yellow on the throat would be peculiar to a female rather than to a male, 

 but Emin Pasha's bird must be a male, because nobody ever sexed birds more 

 correctly than Emiu, and tlie wing is longer than in any other specimen. Moreover, 

 the locality is far away from Naudi and Uganda (Toro). 



45. Ploceus kersteni (Fiusch & Hartl.). 

 Cf. Reichenow, Vttg. Afr. iii. p. 31. 



This bird seems to represent the various forms of P. bicolor, as accepted by me, 

 in East Africa. 



It is probably a further subspecies of P. bicolor, an extreme form with 

 deep black upper-surface and throat. 



We have the following specimens : 



2 S ad., Bagamoyo, Emin Pasha coll. (Without original labels. Ex Hartlaub.) 



1 ? ad., Mogadoxo, Somaliland, Revoil coll. Ex Boncard. 



1, Zanzibar, vii. 1889., StuhJmaun coll. (Exchanged from Berlin Museum.) 



1, Nguru, E. Africa April L896. Purchased. 



(To be continued.) 



34 



