BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 461 



of the breasts to form the black gorgets of the breeding plumage ; the 

 nuchal collar, the scapulars, and lesser coverts come next. The inter- 

 scapulars, back, and rump are not molted, but the brown edges wear 

 ofT, leaving the uniform black color. The rectrices and remiges are 

 not changed in the prenuptial molt. The tertials apparently are not 

 molted, but become black through the wearing away of their brown- 

 ish edges. The postjuvenal molt is apparently incomplete, the juvenal 

 rectrices being retained in the first nonbreeding plumage. 

 The molts and plumages of Vidua macroura are as follows: 



MALE 



1. Natal down — grayish dusky. 



2. Juvenal plumage acquired by a complete postnatal molt. Above: 

 Head, hind neck, scapulars, interscapulars, back and rump tawny- 

 olive, darker on the head, which is intermediate in color between, 

 tawny-olive and Saccardo's umber, the interscapulars and feathers 

 of the back with somewhat dusky centers producing a faintly streaked 

 appearance, rump washed with cinnamon ; upper tail coverts fuscous, 

 broadly edged and tipped with Sayal brown ; tail feathers fuscous- 

 brown narrowly edged with Sayal brown; lesser and middle wing 

 coverts like the scapulars; greater wing coverts, and tertials light 

 fuscous-brown broadly edged externally with Sayal brown; second- 

 aries and primaries fuscous-brown externall}^ narrowly edged with 

 Sayal brown and internally edged with buffy whitish ; sides of head 

 pale vinaceous-bufF ; lores blackish. BeJoio: chin, throat, breast, 

 flanks, abdomen, thighs, and under tail coverts light buff washed 

 with chestnut, the chestnut most pronounced on the breast, flanks, 

 and thighs; under wing coverts whitish tinged with light buff, bill 

 dark brown. 



3. First winter plumage acquired by a partial molt involving feath- 

 ers of the head, scapulars, and wing coverts. Ahove: Head, 

 ochraceous-tawny, a broad black stripe on each side from the base of 

 the upper mandible to the nape; nape, back, and rump tawny-olive, 

 the interscapulars and scapulars black broadly edged with ochraceous- 

 tawny; upper tail-coverts fuscous, edged and tipped with olive- 

 tawny; lesser, middle, and inner greater coverts like the scapulars; 

 remiges and rectrices as in juvenal plumage — fuscous-brown, but with 

 the tawny edges narrow from wear, and the buffy-white inner edges 

 of the primaries also narrower than in juvenal plumage; sides of 

 head pale buffy, a black stripe through the eye from the bill to the 

 nape; a malar line of black spots w^hich vary considerably in dif- 

 ferent specimens. Below: Chin whitish; throat, breast, abdomen, 

 flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts as in juvenal plumage but 

 whiter and with a few black spots on the sides of the breast and 

 occasionally on the thighs ; bill reddish brown. 



