BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 453 



Sporaeginthiis mwrgavitae Weld-Blundell and Lovat ®^ is a 

 synonym. 



The Abyssinian fawn-breasted waxbill is a little-known, local, and 

 apparently rather scarce bird. 



The present specimen appears to be the southernmost one yet 

 recorded. Previously the bird was not known from farther south 

 than Gofa, where Zaphiro shot three specimens.*^^ Before that it 

 had been found on the Baro River by Zaphiro *'* and on the Maki 

 River by Erlanger.^^ Lovat®*' met with a flock of nearly 100 birds 

 at Gelongol. According to Zedlitz,''^ it is apparently entirely re- 

 stricted to the highhmds of the Tigre district, whence he lists a 

 specimen taken by Milller at Adua, but it is a rarity as far as collec- 

 tions indicate. 



The colored figure of '"''margaAtae''' given by Ogilvie-Grant ''^ is 

 much brighter colored than the present example, being darker 

 brown above and deeper orange below. The bill is represented as 

 being red, but the color in the dried specimen is light yellowish. It 

 may be that Mearns's bird was not fully adult. Shelley,*'^ however, 

 remarks that the under tail coverts and upper breast are too brightly 

 colored in the plate. 



The dimensions of the present specimen are: Wing, 49; tail, 47; 

 culmen, 9 ; tarsus, 14 mm. 



Nothing appears to be known of the habits of this waxbill. 



ESTRILDA CHARMOSYNA CHARMOSYNA (Reichenow) 



liahropyga charnwsyna Reichenow. Oi'n. Ceiitralb., 1881, p. 78: Berdera, on 



the Juba River, Italian Somaliland. 

 Specimens collected : 



5 males, Dire Daoua, Ethiopia, December G-22, 1911. 



1 male, 1 female, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, April 23-May 13, 1912. 



1 male, Turturo, Ethiopia, June 15, 1912. 



2 males, 1 female, 25 miles south of Lake Rudolf, Kenya Colony, July 12, 

 1912. 



4 males, Indunumara Mountains, Kenya Colony, July 14, 1912. 

 1 male, Endoto Mountains, Kenya Colony, July 20, 1912. 

 1 male, 24 miles south of Malele, Kenya Colony, July 29, 1912. 

 1 female, Tana River, Kenya Colony, August 16, 1912. 



Soft parts : Bill blue, tipped with black ; feet and claws plumbeous 

 black. 



«2 Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 10, p. 20, 1899 : Gelongol. 

 «3 Ogilvie-Grant, Ibis, 1913, pp. 571-572. 

 e*Ibis, 1907, p. 583. 

 «= Journ. fiir Orn., 1907, p. 21. 

 Mlbis, 1900, p. 130. 

 6'Journ. fiir Orn., 1911, p. 27. 

 «8Ibis, 1900, pi. 3, fig. 1. 



=" The birds of Africa, vol. 4, pp. 217-218, 1905. 

 106220 — 37 30 



