310 PLOCEID^. 



A(Mt male. Glossy purplish blue both above and below ; quills 

 and tail-feathers blackish. Total length 3-8 inches, culmen 0*35, 

 wing 2*5, tail 1"4, tarsus 0-55. 



Adult female. Above dusky brown, the feathers margined with 

 dull whitish ; a vertical streak, with another above the eye, and a 

 third below the latter dull whitish ; under surface of body dull 

 whitish ; throat, breast, and tianks dusky ashy, the former and the 

 vent in some specimens more fidvescent : tail-feathers smoky brown. 

 {Heugl. N.O.-Afr. p. 588.) 



Hnh. Abyssinia and Shoa as far as the Upper White Nile. 



a. Ad. sk. White Nile. F. Galton, Esq. [P.]. 



b. c? ad. sk. Abyssinia. Purchased. 



c. Ad. sk. Abyssinia. Shelley Coll. 



d. (S ad. sk. Shoa {Sir W. C. Harris). India Museum. 



e. S ad. sk. Lake Sanne, M'tesa's country M. A. Bouvier [P.], 



{Pia^gid). 



f. 6 ad. sk. Daimbi, Shoa, Nov. 22 (O. Shelley Coll. 



Antinori). 



4. Hypochsera funerea. 



?The Black Urmei, Edwards, Glea7iings,m. p. 322, pi. 362. fig. 1 



(1764). 

 Fringilla funerea, De Tarrag. Rev. Zool. 1847, p. 180. 

 Tiaris funerea, Gray, Gt-n. B. ii. p. 375 (1849). 

 Hvpochfera ultramarina, Hartl. Orn. W.-Afr. p. 149 (1857); Fischer, 



'J.f. 0. 1885, p. 135 ; Reichen. J.f. O. 1887, p. 70. 

 Hypochsera purpurascens, Reichen. J. f. O. 1883, p. 221 ; Fischer, 



J.f. 0. 1885, p. 135. 

 Hypocha?ra nitens, Hartert, J. f. O. 1886, p. 584. 



Adult male. General colour above dull purplish black with scarcely 

 any gloss : on each side of the lower back a patch of silky white ; 

 wing-coverts like the back ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and 

 quills light brown, the inner secondaries purplish black like the 

 back ; tail-feathers light brown, fringed with whity brown ; sides 

 of face and entire under suiface of body dull purplish black like the 

 back ; asillaries and under wing-coverts creamy buff ; quills light 

 brown below, creamy bufl' along the inner web : " bill white ; feet 

 red : iris brown " (Hartert). Total length 4-3 inches, culmen 0-4, 

 wing 2*7, tail I'oo, tarsus 0"55. 



Hub. Natal to Eastern Africa, and apparently West Africa from 

 Senegambia to Abeokuta * and the Niger. 



a. cJ ad.sk. Bm-g Mountain, Natal (G-'wrff/e). Shelley Coll. 



6, c. c? ad. sk. Weenen, Natal, Jan., Feb. (TF. Forbes Coll. 



A7-))old). 

 d, e. (5 ad. sk. Weeuen, Natal, Feb., Apiil Shelley Coll. 



( W. Arnold). 



* TliP sjjeciraeii from Abeokuta bas been in spirit and therefore the actual 

 sliade of gloss on the plumage cannot be trusted. The only specimen from 

 Senegambia in the Museum is not in full plumage, but appears to be donning a 

 much more Tiolet-black plumage than the Natal birds, so that in all probability 

 the Senegambian specimens will be found to belong to a distinct species. 



