62 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 22 3 



The color of the primaries in the breeding plumage of the adult male 

 is the most stable and useful character by which to distinguish the 

 species of combassous. These feathers are black or dark blackish 

 brown in Vidua chalybeata and its races, and are paler brown (earth 

 brown to pale fuscous) in V. Junerea and V. amauropteryx and their 

 included forms. The latter two species may be told apart (in breeding 

 adult males onl}^ by the fact thsit funerea has the entire head and body 

 black with little or only moderate luster, tinged with purple or violet, 

 while amauropteryx has a much more pronounced gloss tinged with 

 blue or green, but not with violet. The difference between the black 

 and the paler brown of the remiges is not due to fading or abrasion as 

 might on first sight seem to be the case. As far as is known, the molts 

 and the molting seasons seem similar in all the species. 



Aside from the color of the remiges and the degree and hue of the 

 general plumage gloss, the color of the bUl and feet is of some diag- 

 nostic usefulness. The evidence from this character, however, does 

 not parallel or agree very closely with that of the remigial character, 

 and here again, unfortunately, the potential utility of this character 

 pertains only to breeding adult males. In the nominate race of 

 V. amauropteryx, the bill and feet are coral red; in its northern race 

 nigeriae, and in both the other species, the bill is said to be white 

 to pinkish white, and the feet are recorded as whitish to pinkish to 

 orange yellow or pale brownish, except in V. chalybeata neumanni, in 

 which the feet are said to be red. It is not loiowTi with certainty 

 how constant these color characters are, or how significant they are. 

 WhoUy on the basis of bill color, nigeriae and amauropteryx are very 

 different, but they seem to be conspecific otherwise and are so treated 

 here. 



The ranges and characters of the races of each species are treated 

 under the respective species accounts. 



Interspecific relations in life: Determining the relations be- 

 tween species of combassous rivals the difficulty posed by the African 

 Zosterops, a problem recently elucidated by R. E. Moreau (1957). 

 The combassous have the same problem concerning the allopatry 

 and sympatry of the included forms. It appears that while 

 the geographical ranges of species of combassous overlap extensively 

 over very wide areas, their ecological ranges coincide less completely. 

 In one respect the problem in the combassous is even more difficult 

 to settle. During the nonbreeding season, the combassous form loose 

 flocks, which may contain more than a single species, but in such cases 

 it is impossible to identify component elements because of the simi- 

 larity in plumage of "off season" males, females, and young birds of 

 several species. Furthermore, if two locally sympatric species were 

 to hybridize, it would be almost impossible to sense the hybridization 



