15. SPKEMESTES. 263 



and tho white checkered spots on the outer edges of the quills. 



Total length 3-7 inches, culmen 0-45, wing 2-1, tail 1-15, tarsus 0-5. 



IJah. West Africa, from Angola to Gaboon and Fernando Po. 



a, b, c. Ad. sk. Fernando Po (Z. Fniser). Eyton Coll. (Types 



of species.) 



d. 2 ad. sk. Fernando Po. Purchased. 



e. Ad. sk. Gaboon. H. T. Ansell, Esq. 



[P.]. 



/. Ad. sk. Gaboon. Sharpe Coll. 



g. Ad. sk. Gaboon {Du Chaillu). Shelley Coll. 



h, i. Ad. et imm. Gaboon \Du Chaillu). Tweeddale Coll. 



sk. 



k. 5 ad. sk. Landana, Congo {Dr. Lucan). Shelley Coll. 



I. Ad. sk. Bembe, Angola, Mouteiro Coll. 



4. Spermestes nigriceps. 



Spermestes nigriceps, Cass. Proc. Fhilad. Acad. 1852, p. 185. 

 Spermestes rufodorsalis, Peters, J. f. O. 1863, p. 401 ; Cab. in Von 



der Deckens lieis. iii. p. 30 (1SG9) ; Fimch ^- Hartl. Vikj. Ostafr. 



p. 438 (1870) ; Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 64 (1871) ; Cab. J. f. O. 



1878, p. 2.30; Gurney, Ibis, 1881, p. 128 ; Bohm, J. f. 0. 1883, 



p. 184; Sharpie, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 456 (1884") ; Fischer, 



Zekschr. c/es. Orn. i. p. 323 (1884); id. J. f. 0. 1885, p. 136; 



Shelley, Ibis, 1886, p. 309. 

 Amadina puuctipennis, Bianc. Spec. Zool. Mosamb. fasc. xviii. p. 323, 



pi. 41. tig. 1 (1867). 

 Amadina nigriceps. Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 54, no. 6760 (1870). 



Adult female. General colour above chestnut, the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts black, barred and spotted at the tips of the feathers 

 with white ; wing-coverts chestnut-brown, the inner ones like the 

 back ; the median-coverts with a pale streak near the ends ; outer 

 greater coverts, bastard-wing, and primary-coverts dusky blackish, 

 edged with chestnut-brown; quills black, minutely spotted with white 

 on the outer web, producing a barred appearance, the inner secon- 

 daries externally rufous brown, the innermost chestnut like the 

 back ; tail-feathers black ; crown of head, hind neck, lores, sides of 

 face, ear-coverts, cheeks, throat, sides of neck, and fore neck black ; 

 breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts white ; sides of body and 

 flanks black, spotted and barred with white ; thighs black, inter- 

 nally white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, the edge of 

 the wing mottled with black ; quills below blackish, edged with 

 ashy, whitish towards the base. Total length 3"4 inches, culmen 

 0-35, wing 1-85, tail 1-2, tarsus 0-5. 



Adult male. Similar to the female. Total length 33 inches, 

 culmen 0-4, wing 1-85, tail 1-15, tarsus 0"5. 



Hah. East Africa, from the Zanzibar region down to Natal. 



a. S ad. sk. Mombasa. Rev. A. Buxton [C.]. 



b. (S ad. sk. Mombasa ( Von der Deckeii). Sharpe Coll. 



c. c? ,iuv. sk. Zanzibar ( Von der FeckerC). Sharpe CoU. 



d. Ad. sk. Kibe {B. C. Ramsham). Shelley Coll. 



e. 5 ad. sli. Durban, Natal, Aug. 27 (T. L. Shelley Coll. 



Ay res) . 



