12. PYEENESTES. 253 



crimson. Total length 5-6 inches, culmen 0-7, wing 2-9, tail 2-25, 

 tarsus U'8. 



Hah. West Africa from Senegambia to the Niger. ? Gaboon. 



a. [ 2 1 ad. sk. Kiver Gambia. Shelley Coll. 



6. [ § ] ad. sk. River Gambia. Sharps Coll. 



c. [2]ad. sk. itiver Gambia. Forbes CoU. 



d. [ ? ] jmi. sk. River Gambia. Old Coll. 



e. <S ad. sk. Shonga, R. Niger, 



Nov. 1882 ( W. A. F.). Forbes CoU. 



2. Pjrrenestes coccineus. 



Pyrenestes coccineus, Cass. Proc. Philad. Acad. 1848, p. 67 ; id. Journ. 



Philad. Acad. i. p. 242, pi. 31. fig. 2 (1848) ; Hartl. Orn. JV.-Afr. 



p. 139 (1857) ; Cass. Proc. Philad. Acad. 1859, p. 139 ; Sharpe, 



Ibis, 1870, p. 54 ; Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 49, no. 6679 (1870) ; 



Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 68 (1871) ; Reiclien. J. f. O. 1875, p. 41, 



1887, p. 301. 

 Pyi'enestes personatus, Du Bus, Bull. Acad. Bru.v. xxii. pt. i. p. 151 



(1855) ; Marti. Orn. W.-Afr. p. 139 (1857) ; Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. 



p. 49, no. 6680 (1870) ; Eeichen. J. f. O. 1875, p. 41 ; Bilttik. 



Notes Leyden Mns. vi. p. 199 (1885), vii. p. 199 (1885), viii. 



p. 260 (1886), X. p. 91 (1888) ; Reichen. J.f. O. 1887, p. 305. 

 Pyrenestes ostrinus {nee V.), Reichen. J.f. 0.1877, p. 29; Bocage, 

 " Orn. Angola, p. 300 (1877-81) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1886, p. 314 (pt.). 



Adult male. Similar to P. ostrinus, but smaller in size : " bill 

 metallic cobalt-blue ; feet olive-brown ; eyelid cobalt-blue ; iris 

 brown" {Biittikofer). Total length 5 inches, exposed culmen 0'6, 

 wing 2"5, tail 2, tarsus 0'7. 



Adult female. Similar to the female of P. ostrinus, but smaller : 

 " bill dark steel-blue ; feet olive-brown ; eyelid ochraceous ; iris 

 brown " {Buttikofer). Total length 4'7 inches, culmen 0-5, wing 2*4, 

 tail 1"85, tarsus 0-75. 



Young. Entirely brown, without any crimson colour whatever : 

 tail dull red ; soft parts as in adult female. {Mus. Liigd.) 



That the male takes some time before assuming the fuUy adult 

 black plumage seems to be certain, for Blittikofer discovered a colony 

 of breeding birds in Liberia, wherein there was not a single black- 

 backed male, and he never saw one during his residence in that 

 country. It is evident that the black-plumaged birds are very rare, 

 and very few specimens exist in collections. The males collected by 

 Biittikofer vary from alight brown to a dark, almost chocolate-brown; 

 while the females resemble the males, but are paler still, and have 

 scarcely any wash of crimson over the brown plumage ; the crimson 

 colour of the head and throat is less vivid, and the bill is conspicu- 

 ously smaller. Underneath, the colour resembles that of the male 

 but is decidedly lighter, the red of the throat less extended and not 

 reaching to the fore neck ; the sides of the breast brown (not crim- 

 son) and with only a slight shade of red. Total length 4'7 inches, 

 exposed culmen 0'45, wing 2'4, tail 1"S, tarsus 0'7. (J/ws. Lugd.) 



Dr. Eeichenow says that in a Gaboon specimen of P. jjersonatus 



