296 



FRTNGILLIDA 



nape to the rump ; lesser wing-coverts like the back ; median and 

 greater coverts dusky brown, edged with lighter brown and whity 

 brown at the ends ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts uniform dark 

 brown ; quills dark brown, edged with chocolate-brown, whity 

 brown on the margins of the primaries and ends of secondaries ; 

 upper tail-coverts dark brown, edged with paler brown ; tail- 

 feathers dark brown, edged and fringed at the tips with paler brown ; 

 crown of head dark ashy grey, contrasting with the back ; lores 

 whitish, continued into a broad eyebrow of dull rufous-brown, like 

 the sides of the neck ; ear-coverts and cheeks dark ashy brown ; 

 throat whitish, followed by a half-concealed spot of pale sulphur- 

 yellow ; fore neck, breast, sides of body, and flanks dark ashy 

 brown, clearer brown on the latter ; lower breast, abdomen, and 

 thighs whitish ; under tail-coverts white ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries ashy brown ; quills below dusky, ashy along the inner 

 web : " bill blackish horn-colour, the base of the lower mandiblo 

 dusky fleshy : feet lead-colour ; iris rufous-umber " (Hcitr/Un). 

 Total length 4-5 inches, culmen 0'5, wing )}-2, tail 1*8, tarsus 0*7. 



The sexes, as determined by Mr. W. T. Blanford, are alike. 

 Yon Heuglin, however, describes the female as more fulvescent in 

 colour than the male, the cheeks, breast, and flanks washed with 

 fulvous ; wing-coverts more conspicuously tipped with buffy white ; 

 inner secondaries and primaries margined with fulvous ; a con- 

 spicuous broad superciliary streak of buffy whitish, reaching to the 

 nape ; tho yellow spot on the throat very slightly developed ; bill 

 pale fulvous horn-colour. 



Young birds lack the yellow spot on the throat, have the head 

 brown like tho back, which shows traces of dark-brown Sparrow- 

 like centres to the feathers ; the eyebrow very broad and pale 

 creamy buff. 



Hab. N.E. Africa generally. 



a. Juv. sk. Abyssinia. Christiania Museum [P.]. 



b. Jjuv.sk. Gelamet,BogosLand, Aug. 10, Sliarpe Coll. 



1808 ( W. Jesse), 

 e. 2 ad. sk. Anseba valley, July 31, 1863. W.T. Blanford, Esq. [P.]. 

 d,e. <3 2 ad. sk. Rairo, Aug. '] 5, 1868. W. T. Blanford, Esq. [P.J. 



5. Petronia pyrgita. 



Xanthodina pyrgita, Heugl. J. f. 0. 1802, p. 30, 1808, p. 80 ; id. Om. 



N.O.-Afr. i. pt. 2, p. 027, pi. xxi. fig. 2 (1870). 

 Passer (Gymnorhis) pyrgita, Blanf. Geol. $• Zool. Abyss, p. 413(1870). 

 Fringilla pyrgita, Gray, Hand-l. B. ii. p. 8-5, no. 7250 (1870). 

 Xanthodira pyrgita, Fischer, Zeitschr. yes. Om. i. p. 321 (18S4). 



Adult. Differs from P. dentata in being perfectly uniform brown 

 above, with the head like the back ; no rufous eyebrow ; bill larger 

 and slightly more curved. Total length 5*8 inches, culmen 0'55, 

 wing 2'95, tail 21, tarsus 0-7. 



I was rather inclined to regard this as the winter plumage of 

 P. dentata ; but its larger size appears to determine its specific 

 distinctness. 



