BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 285 



base. Nostril small, roundish, occupying the very narrow space 

 between anterior end of nasal fossa? and loral or latero-frontal 

 antiae. Rictal bristles obsolete. Wing moderate, rather pointed 

 (ninth and eighth, or ninth, eighth, and seventh primaries longest), 

 the tenth (outermost) very minute. Tail much shorter than dis- 

 tance from bend of \ving to end of secondaries, rounded or slightly 

 graduated. Tarsus less than one-third as long as wing, the acro- 

 tarsium distinctly scutellate; middle toe (without claw) shorter 

 than tarsus; inner toe reaching to subterminal joint of middle toe, 

 the outer slightly but decidedly longer; hallux about as long as outer 

 toe ; claws slender, moderately curved, acute. 



Coloration (of typical species). — Head, throat, and chest glossy 

 black or dusky; back, etc., plain glossy black, brown, or chestnut; 

 tail ])lack; under parts of body white, the sides and flanks brown or 

 black, with white bars or spots. 



Range. — Africa and Madagascar. (One 8|)ecies introduced into and 

 naturalized in Porto Kico.) 



SPERMESTES CUCULLATA iSwainson). 

 HOODED WEAVER-FINCH. 



Adult male. — Anterior half, or more, of head, throat, and chest 

 plain sooty black, glossed Avith purplish violet, more greenish purple 

 or bronzy on forehead; hindneck, sides of neck, back, upper rumj), 

 and wings, plain grayish brown; lower rump and upper tail-coverts 

 dull white barred with dusky grayish brown; tail black; a patch 

 of blackish, glossed with purple or bronzy, on posterior portion of 

 scapular region; primaries very narrowly edged or serrated with 

 ])ale gray or whitish; under parts of body white, the flanks broadly 

 ])arred with dusky grayish brown, the sides mth a large patch of 

 blackish glossed with bronzy greenish; under tail-coverts white, 

 Avath V-shaped or U-shaped marks of dusky grayish brown; under 

 wing-coverts bufl'y white; l)ill dusky (partly bluish gray in life?); 

 legs and feet grajdsh dusky (in dried skins) ; length, about 82 ; wing, 48 ; 

 tail, about 30"; exposed culmen, 10. .5; tarsus, 12; middle toe, 11. 



Adult female. — "Similar to the male, but rather browner; the 

 scapulars brown with glossy green tips." ^ 



Young. — Above j)lain brown (between broccoli brown and bistre), 

 darker (more sepia) on head, paler on rump and upper tail-coverts, 

 which are very indistinctly barred with darker; chin and throat 

 ])ale broccoli brown or drab; rest of under parts pale cimiamon, 

 the under tail-coverts indistinctly barred with dusky. 



Introduced into and naturalized in Porto Rico. Native of ecpui- 

 torial and western Africa, from Senegambia to the Kongo. 



« The tail of the single specimen examined is not fully grown out. 

 b Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xiii, 204, 



