452 TLOCEIDiE. 



body bright orange-yellow, with a slight chestnut wash on the sides 

 of the body ; abdomen, lower flanks, thighs, under tail-coverts, and 

 under wing-coverts bright yellow, mottled with blackish bases near 

 the outside of the wing ; quills below dusky, broadly edged with 

 yellow along the inner edge : " bill blackish horn-colour ; feet flesh- 

 colour ; iris orange " ( W. A. Forbes). Total length 6 inches, 

 culmen 0'85, wing 3-35, tail 1'8, tarsus 1 . 



Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above 

 ashy brown, with darker brown centres to the feathers of the mantle ; 

 scapulars like the back ; lower back and rump more uniform ashy 

 brown; under tail-coverts olive-yellow ; wing-coverts brown, edged 

 with olive-yellow ; the median and greater coverts margined and 

 tipped with pale yellow or yellowish white ; remainder of wings 

 and tail as in the male, but not so brightly edged with yellow ; 

 crown of head, nape, and hind neck olive-yellow, with a sulphur- 

 yellow streak from the base of the nostrils above the eye ; feathers 

 round eye, sides of face, ear-coverts, cheeks, and throat sulphur- 

 yellow ; throat, breast, and abdomen white, with here and there a 

 tinge of yellow ; sides of body and flanks earthy brown, slightly 

 washed with olive ; thighs yellow ; under tail-coverts white, the 

 longer ones isabelline brown, with a yellow tinge ; under wing- 

 coverts, axillaries, and quill-lining bright yellow. Total length 5-5 

 inches, culmen 0-8, wing 3-1, tail 1'6, tarsus O'O. 



The adult male seems to adopt a winter plumage exactly like the 

 breeding-plumage of the old female, excepting that the thighs are 

 not so yellow, and the full breeding-dress is gained by a direct 

 moult. Exact information as to the changes of plumage under- 

 gone by the present species is wanting. I have described a pair of 

 birds procured by Mr. T. E. Buckley at Abouri on the 26th of 

 February, and several birds in moult are in the collection. Mr. 

 Forbes obtained two specimens on the Niger, one of which he has 

 himself marked "juv.," and I describe them as the young of the 

 present species. 



Young. Like the old female, but washed with yellow on the 

 whole of the upper surface, so that the brown of the back loses its 

 contrast with the olive-yellow of the head ; the sides of the face are 

 as in the adult female, Wt the cheeks and throat are bright yellow, 

 this colour spreading over the whole of the breast, sides of body, 

 and abdomen, leaving only a little tinge of isabelline on the lower 

 flanks and the abdomen, the under tail-coverts also being yellow : 

 "bill livid fleshy ; feet light red ; iris scarlet" {W. A. F.). The 

 second bird is said by Mr. Forbes to have had the iris brownish 

 black. 



Hah. West Africa from Senegambia to Gaboon. A re-examina- 

 tion of the specimens from Fantee, referred by me to //. chictus in 1872, 

 shows that they are only the young of the present species. Von 

 Heuglin gives some instances of its occurrence in N.E. Africa, but 

 they seem to me to require confirmation. 



