356 Captain G. E. Shelley on the 



This genus I have divided into four species belonging to 

 two well-marked groups — one characterized by the bill not 

 being red, and in the fully adult male by a red head, the other 

 group by a red bill in both sexes. In the former the winter 

 plumage is almost precisely the same as in Pyromelana. 



The members of the red-billed group are certainly subject 

 to considerable variation in brightness, according to age 

 and season, and occasionally somewhat in size ; but I can 

 detect no constant characters for the separation of these 

 varieties. 



I have not kept Q. russi as a distinct species, as it appears 

 to me to be only a pale-headed variety of the male of Q. cethio- 

 pica, or a very fully plumaged female of that species ; and 

 Q. quelea has a similar variety. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Bill never red ; head red in adult males. 



«\ Bill longer, culmen less curved ; wing 2'5 inches. 



In adult males base of the red feathers of the 



throat black 104. Q. eri/throps. 



b\ Bill shorter, culmen more curved; wing 



2"3 inches. In adult males base of the red 



feathers of the throat wliite 105. Q. cardinalis. 



b. Bill red ; no scarlet on the head. 



c\ In adult males, sides of the head and upper 

 half of the throat black. 



c^. Forehead black 106. Q. quelea. 



d^. Forehead not black 107. Q, eethiupica. 



104. Quelea erythrops. 



Ploceus erythrops, Hartl. Rev. Zool. 1848, p. 110, St. 

 Thomas Is. 



Euplectes erythrops, Hartl. Abhandl. nat. Ver. Brem. ii. 

 1848, pi. 8. 



Fringilla erythrocephala, Des Murs (nee Linn.), Lefebvre^s 

 Voy. Abyss. 1850, p. 119, Adowa. 



Foudia erythrops, Bp. Consp. i. 1850, p. 446. 



Quelea capitata, Du Bus, Bull. Acad. Brux. xxii. part 1, 

 1855, p. 151, Senegal. 



Quelea erythrops, Heine, J. f. O. 18G0, p. 144. 



