464 BULLETIN 153, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



identify Loxia nnhUosa Bechstein.*^^ If this bird should prove to be 

 F. hypocherinu, Bechstein's name would have to be used for it ni 

 place of the present one. 



This whydah is much more local and less connnon than V. macroura 

 and, consequently, is less known. It occurs from western Somaliland, 

 Gallaland, southern Sidamo and Boran south through the more arid 

 portion of Kenya Colony to Ugogo and Dodoma in Tanganyika 

 Territory. 



According to van Someren,^* birds in breeding condition were taken 

 in June in north Kavirondo. 



VIDUA FISCHERI (Reichenow) 



Linura fischerl Reichenow, Orn. Ceutralb., 1882, p. 91 : Usegua- 

 Specimens coixectkd: 



7 adult males, Onrso, Ethiopia, September 5-December 3, 1911 (Ouellard). 



1 adult female, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, April 27, 1912. 



3 adult males, 1 immature male, Tertale, Ethiopia, Jime 10, 1912. 



1 adult male, southeast Lake Stefauie, Kenya Colony, May 12, 1912. 



Fischer's pin-tailed whidah occurs throughout the same areas as V. 

 hypocherina, a rather remarkable coincidence that does not appear 

 to have been noted before. 



The adult males are all in nuptial plumage. 



Shelley ^^ has summarized the relatively few northeast African 

 records of this bird. Since then very little has been added. 



Van Someren ^'^ writes that birds "from South Ethiopia are hardly 

 as deep glossy black on the mantle, and the straw colour of the crown 

 is paler; but fresh material may show these differences to be due to 

 wear." I have compared the present specimens with others from 

 Kenya Colony and Tanganyika Territory and find no geographical 

 difference. 



This species lives in the bush and scrub country and does not range 

 into the highlands. 



STEGANURA PARADISAEA (Linnaeus) 



Emheriza paradisaefi Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, p. 178, 1758: Africa; 



restricted to Angola in ed. 12, p. 312, 1766. 

 Specimens collected : 



16 adult males, Ourso, Ethiopia, September 3-Oetober 16, 1911 (Ouellard). 



2 adult males. Dire Daoua, Ethiopia, no date. 



1 adult male, 1 adult female, 1 unsexed immature. Dire Daoua, Ethiopia, 

 December 15, 1912. 



»3 Getreue Abbildungen naturhistorischer Gegenstaende, etc., vol. 8, p. G9, pi. 86, fig. b 

 1802. 



»* Ibis, 1916, p. 426. 



»^ The birds of Africa, vol. 4, pp. 24-25, 1905. 



»8 Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 152, 1922. 



I 



