2G4 I'LOCEID^T!,", 



5. Spermestes cucullata. 



Speimestes cucullata, Stuams. B. W. Afr. i. p. 201 (1837); Bj/. 

 Gmsp. i. p. 454 (1850) ; Cab. Mna. Hein. Th. i. p. 173 (1850) ; 

 Miill. Descr. Nouv. Ois. Afr. pt. iv. pi. 16 (1864) ; Hard. Orn. W.- 

 Afr. p. 147 (1857); Cass. Froc. Philad. Acad. 1859, p. 138; 

 liartl. J. f. O. 18G1, p. 259; Rekhenb. Singv. p. 37, Taf. xiii. 

 figs. 114, il5 (18()1) ; Dvhrn, P. Z. S. 1806, p. 329; Keukm. Onze 

 Voq. i. pi. 43 (1869) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1869, p. 192 ; id. Cat. Afr. B. 

 p. 64 (1871, pt.) ; iihelley hf Buckley, Ibis, 1872, p. 289 ; Ussher, 

 Ibis, 1874, p. 69 ; Reichen. J.f. O. 1875, p. 42 ; 8harpe ^ Bouvier, 

 Bull. Soo. Zool. France,!, p. 49 (1875); Oust. Noiw. Arch. Mns, 

 (2) ii. Bull. p. lU (1879) ; JWs. Verh. z.-b. Ges. Wien, xxxi. p. 152 

 (1881); Hartl. Ahhandl. not. Ver. Bremen, vlii. p. 202 (1883); 

 Forbes, Ibis, 1883, pp.605, 508, 517 ; Shelley, t.c. p. 553 ; Biittik. 

 Notes Leyden Mvs. viii. p. 261 (1886) ; Hartert, J. f. O. 1886, 

 p. 584 ; S/ielley, Ibis, 1886, p. 309 (pt.). 



Loxia prasipteron, Less. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 104. 



Amadina cucullata, Stmdev. CEfv. K. Vef.-Akad. Stockh. 1849, p. 159 ; 

 Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 370 (1849) ; id. Htmd-l. B. ii. p. 54, no. 6746 

 (1870). 



Adult male. General colour above ashy brown : lower back and 

 nirap barred with dusky brown and whitish, the feathers being 

 tipped with whitish with a subterminul bar of blackish or dusky 

 brown ; scapulars glossy steel-green, forming a shoulder-patch ; 

 lesser wing-coverts brown, with a slight shade of glossy green ; 

 median and greater coverts brown, edged with ashy whitish at the 

 ends ; bastard- wing, i)rimary-covcrts, aud (juills browu, fringed with 

 lighter brown, the primaries margined with hoary white : upper 

 tail-coverts ashy grey ; tail-feathers blackish ; crown of head glossy 

 Bteel-green ; nape and hind neck uniform brown ; lores, sides of 

 face, feathers round eye, ear-coverts, cheeks, and throat blackish, 

 with a purplish bronzy or greenish gloss ; sides of neck brown, as 

 also the hinder car-coverts aud sides of hinder crown ; fore neck and 

 chest rather browner than the throat ; breast and abdomen pure 

 white ; sides of body and flanks mottled, brown, broadly tipped with 

 white, before which is a line or shade of glossy green like the shoulder- 

 patch ; thighs brown, edged with white ; iinder tail-coverts white, 

 crossed with a few zigzag bars of blackish brown ; under wing- 

 coverts aud axillarics isabelline buff, the coverts near the edge of 

 the wing more dusky ; quills below dusky, isabelline along the inner 

 edge: " bill black ; feet dark brown ; iris clear brown" (Ifartert). 

 Total length 3"6 inches, culmeii 0-4, wing 2-0, tail 1"2, tarsus 0-45. 



After the nesting-season the colours of the male become somewhat 

 worn and the throat especially is browner, with less gloss. Probably 

 only old birds have the scaiiular patch entirely green, as many males 

 have only a small patch of brown with green tips to the feathers. 



Adult female. Similar to the male, but rather browner; the 

 scapulars brown with glossy green tips. Total length 3'5 inches, 

 culmen 0'4, wing 1-8, tail 1'2, tarsus 0'45. 



Hub. West Africa, from Scncgambia to the Congo, and extending 

 across to Equatorial Afiica. 

 a. Ad. sk. W. Africa. Purcliased. 



