Obsc.rv. After a \ery careful comparison of a series of thirteen specimens of the true 

 Ploceus nigerrimiis, and Ploceus albinucha, and before reading Di'. Reichenow's descriji- 

 tion of the female of the former bird, I huriiedly came to the conclusion that the indi- 

 vidual now described by me (see No. 2) was the true female of 1'Iocp.us nigerrimim 

 (see No. 1), and the example described by Professor Barboza du Bocage as Sycobius 

 albinucha I considered to be the young bird, which I figured as such in Plate 1, but 

 the characters given by Cassin, Hartlaub, Elliot and Reichenow of the adult female and 

 young of PI. iiii/erriiiins, with the details of the specimens in the British Museum, 

 kindly sent to me by Mr. F. W. Frohawk, exclude all doubts as to the sexes of tliis 

 species ; but we must regard Ploceus albinucha, Bocage, as a distinct species, the 

 synonymy of which, with descriptions, I have given below. 



The earliest description of an entirely brownish-black Weaver-bii'd, 

 which apparently refers to the present species, is given by Temmijick in his 

 ' Catalogne Systematique d:i Cabinet d'Ornithologie,' published in 1807, 

 where he calls it the female of " Le RepuUicaiii a capuchon ecarlate,'' and 

 describes it as follo^vs : '' Le femelle est cntierement d'un noir rembrunir 



In ISIJ:), Yieillot, in his ' Nouvelle Dictionnaire,' recognised the species 

 as being distinct from its allies, and characterised it under the appellation 

 of Ploceus nigernnms. 



Mr. J. Cassin, whose valuable observations on birds are well known 

 throughout the Ornithological world, published an account of the birds 

 collected by M. du Chaillu, in the * Proceedings of the Academy of 

 A'atural Sciences ' for 1856, in which our attention is called for the tirst 

 time to the different stages of plumage of this peculiar form of Weaver- 

 bird, viz. : — " The specimens labelled by M. du Chaillu as both se.xes of 

 this little-known species are entirely black, and differ only slightly in size 

 and lustre of plumage. The young are, however, very different, having 

 the upper parts dark green wdth longitudinal sti'ipes of brown and black ; 

 under parts dull yellow, darker on the sides ; wings and tail in some speci- 

 mens brown, in others black. Bill lighter coloured than in the adidt ; 

 under mandible nearly white. In young plumage this bird might readily 

 be mistaken for a distinct species." 



In the same ' Proceedings ' for 1860, ]\Ir. Cassin, although retaining 

 this species under the generic name of Sycohim, remarks that it is " per- 

 haps not properly referrible to this genus ; the green colour of the young 

 approximating it to Ploceus and HyphantomisJ^ 



Capt. G. E. Shelle}', in the ' Ibis ' for 1887, points out that " The Gold 



