438 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



form differs from the nominate race in having the upperparts more 

 heavily and abundantly marked with blackish bars, and in being 

 smaller, with a small bill. 



The present specimens exhibit a good deal of variation in size. 

 Thus, the males have the following dimensions: Wing, 61-72 (aver- 

 age, 65.2) ; tail, 36-42 (38.5) ; culmen, 9-11 (10.4) ; tarsus, 13.5-15 

 (14.4 mm). Females: Wing, 62.5-67 (64.4); tail, 35-38.5 (36.9); 

 culmen, 10-11 (10.1); tarsus, 13-16.5 (14.3 mm). The majority of 

 the specimens are in fairly fresh plumage. 



The cut-throat finch is a permanent resident in the semiarid thorn- 

 bush country throughout its range. It is a bird of the lower alti- 

 tudes and is much given to going about in loose flocks, often in com- 

 pany with other weavers. 



In Eritrea the breeding season is in summer and early in autumn, 

 according to Zedlitz.^^ In the adjacent parts of the Sudan it is said 

 to nest in August and in early September, in the latter part of which 

 month the birds flock in good numbers. Erlanger ^^ found a nest 

 with three eggs at Sarigo, in southern Somaliland, on May 9, an 

 unusually early date, compared with Eritrean and Sudanese observa- 

 tions, and one that is difficult to comprehend. In Darfur, for ex- 

 ample, Lynes ^"^ found that the typical race breeds in autumn and 

 midwinter. In Kenya Colony it has been found in large swarms 

 (a good sign of nonbreeding activity) in March, April, and July. 

 Thus, in the Indunumara Mountains, July 14-18, Mearns observed 

 over 1,000 of these weavers. Donaldson Smith found the species 

 breeding in August in Somaliland. 



HYPARGOS NIVEOGUTTATUS (Peters) 



Spermophaga niveoguttata Petteks, Journ. fiir Orn., 1868, p. 133: Inhambane. 

 Specimens collected: 1 male, Meru Forest, Kenya Colony, August 10, 1912. 



This specimen is the type of macrosjnlotus Mearns.^^ I have seen 

 birds from Mozambique, Gazaland, Nyasaland, Tanganyika Terri- 

 tory, and Kenya Colony, and find that macrospUotus is identical 

 with niveoguttatus. 



The present example is in fairly fresh plumage and has the follow- 

 ing dimensions: Wing, 57.5; tail, 54; culmen, 13.5; tarsus, 17 mm. 



Very little appears to be known of the habits of this little twin- 

 spot, except that it lives in thickets and dense undergrowth, where 

 it feeds largely on the ground. In Nyasaland, Belcher-- found it 

 "living usually in wet shaded gullies and * * * attracting little 



"Journ. fiir Orn., 1911, p. 24. 



"Journ. fiir Orn., 1907, p. 17. 



20 Ibis, 1924, p. 673. 



« Smitlisonian Misc. Coll., vol. 61, no. 14, p. 2, 1913. 



22 Birds of Nyasaland, p. 328, 1930. 



