Habitat. North-East and West Africa. Extending " from Abyssinia 

 to Linda on the east coast, and from the Quanza River to Senegal 

 on the west coast " (Shelley). 



Male. Crown, hind neck, sides and lower part of throat, fiery orange-red, which passes up 

 to an acute point, to the angle of the lower mandible ; mantle and scapulars bright 

 chestnut, tinged with orange ; rump and upper tail-coverts like the crown and throat ; 

 narrow frontal band uniting on the culmen, narrow line over the eye, lores, cheeks, ear- 

 coverts, chin, upper part of throat, chest, and belly velvety-black ; wings, wing-coverts 

 and taU black, narrowly edged with white and pale buff ; flanks, thighs, abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts pale fawn-colour, slightly tinged with orange ; axillaries pale buff ; 

 under wing-coverts, and under surface of wing nearly black ; iris brown ; bill black , 

 feet brownish flesh-colour : length 5-3, wing 2-95, tail 2-1, tars. 075, culm. 0'65. 



Female. Above rufous-brown ; crown of head and hind neck narrowly striated, mantle and 

 scapulars broadly striated with dark brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts faintly striated 

 and uniform pale brown ; wings and coverts, and tail dark brown, narrowly edged with 

 pale rufous-brown ; eyebrows yellowish bufi" ; cheeks and ear-coverts like the hind neck ; 

 moustachial • line faint yellowish buff; chin, throat, abdomen and under tail-coverts 

 nearly pure wliite ; breast, sides, flanks, and thighs, brownish buff, slightly tinged with 

 yellow, and very faintly striated; axillaries, under surface of wing and coverts dull 

 brown ; iris pale bro-wn ; bill pale fleshy-brown, darker on the culmen ; feet pinkish 

 flesh-colour : length -l-G.?, wing 2 '-IS, tail 1'7, tars. 0-75, culm. 0-6. 



Younff. Similar to the female but paler. 



Obser. The brilliant colours of the male are assumed by a gradual moult of the whole of the 

 feathers, and after the breeding season they become like the females and young males. 



In the adult males, the fine shafts of the feathers on the crown and nape terminate in 

 long black hair-like points ; and immature males have the wing-coverts, secondaries and 

 tail broadly edged with rufous-brown ; in some the longest under tail-coverts are white ; 

 the bill being silvery-white at the base. 



The secondaries of the adult female are narrowly, and in the young females broadly, edged 

 with pale rufous-brown. 



The group of Fire-Finches (so called from the brilliancy of their plumage) 

 to which the Crimson-crowned Weaver belongs is one of the most extensive 

 and beautiful of the whole family of PloceidcB found on the continent of 

 Africa. The exquisite arrangement of colours, although opposed to each 

 other, harmonizes, and lends beauty to the everlasting activity of these very 

 amusing birds ; their movements and most ludicrous song, or I might say 

 chatterings, always create merriment among those who keep them in confine- 



