276 PLOCEID^. 



outer webs ; crown of head, sides of face, ear-coverts, throat, and 

 breast deep crimson, fading into brown on the abdomen, which, 

 like the flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts, is ochrcous brown ; 

 under wing-coverts brown with silky-M'hite bases ; quills below 

 dusky, ashy along the inner edge. Total length 3-75 inches, 

 culmen 0-4, wing 1-9, tail 1*3, tarsus 0*5. 

 Hah. Senegambia. 



a. (S ad. sk. River Gambia. Sharpe Coll. 



b. tJ ad. sk. River Gambia. Shelley Coll. 



5. Lagonosticta minima. 



Le Petit Senegali rouge, Vieill. Ois. Chant, pi. 10 (1805). 

 Fringilla minima, Vieill. N. Diet. cVIIist. Nat. xii. p. 183 (1817). 

 Estrelda minima, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. o69 (1849) ; Bp. Comp. i. 



p. 460 (1850) ; Hartl. Orn. Westafr. p. 144 (1857) ; Gray, Hand-l 



^.ii. p. 52, no. 0710(1870). 

 Lagonosticta minima, Cah. Mus. Hein. Th. i. p. 172 (1850) ; Eeichenb. 



Singv. p. 18, Taf. iv. figs. 34-37 (1861) ; 8harpe, Ibis, 1872, p. 72 ; 



SharjK ^ Boiivier, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, i. p. 49 (1876) ; Shelley, 



Ibis, 1883, p. 6.54. 

 Lagonosticta senegala (wee i.), Reichenb. Sitigv. p. 18, Taf. iv. 



fig. 37 (1861). 



Adult male. Similar to L. senegala, but pink as a rule, never 

 reaching such a fine crimson colour, and always distinguished by 

 some tiny white spots on the sides of the breast : " feet dark flesh- 

 colour ; iris olive-brown ; eye-ring yellow " ( W. A. Forbes). Total 

 length 3'7 inches, culmen 0*4, wing 1*85, tail 1'3, tarsus 0*5. 



Adult female. Diflerent from the male. Dark brown above, 

 with crimson on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wings like the 

 back : tail as in the male ; sides of face brown, with a crimson 

 loral spot ; under surface of body ochreous brown, clearer ochreous on 

 the abdomen, with white rounded spots on the sides of the breast : 

 " bill rosy red, the culmen and symphysis black, shaded off on the 

 upper mandible; feet fleshy brown; eye-ring yellow" {W. A, 

 Forbes). Total length 3-5 inches, culmen 0-35, wing 1-75, tail 1-25, 

 tarsus 0-5. 



Captain Shelley considers that L. minima and L. senegala are the 

 same species. This is quite likely to be correct, as the white spots 

 on the sides of the breast vary a good deal, and may perhaps 

 disappear altogether with age, in which case L. senegala wiU turn 

 out to be the very oldest stage of plumage. 



Hab. West Africa from Senegambia to the Niger. 



a. Ad. sk. W. Africa. Purchased. 



b. Var. alb. sk. River Gambia. Purchased. 



f,(^. (5 ad. ; f. 5 juv. sk. Dakar, Senegambia (Z. Tweeddale Coll. 



Laylaize). 



f. 2 ad. sk. Dakar (L. Laglaize). Sharpe Coll. 



(I,h. 5 ad., (S juv. sk. River Gambia. Sharpe Coll. 



V. S ad. sk. River Volta (H. T. Ussher). Sharpe Coll. 



