198 ' Three PyfeUae. 



known bii-d is more generally spoken of as the Aurora 

 Finch. It is a native of Africa, and has (luite an extensive 

 range over Senegambia, tlie Upper Nile region, and Equatorial 

 Africa. 



Plumage: The general body-colour is bluish-grey, paler 

 and whiter on the under parts, and washerl with vinous brown 

 on the upper parts; lower back and upj-er tail coverts,. 

 rich crimson; lesser wing coverts, red; median and greater 

 coverts, brownish-grey edged with red; flights, brown 

 partially edged with dull red ; central tail feathers 

 rich crimson, with the outer ones blackish edged witli crimson.* 

 The whole of the under surface is regularly barred or scaled 

 with greyish -white (in some specimens the white is almost 

 pure on the abdomen and vent). The barrings vary a good 

 deal in individual specimens, as also does the amount of white 

 on the lower surface: some bodies that hav(> l>een sent to 

 me for identification at various times, have l)een scaled almost 

 as regularly and distinctly as a Spice Finch, while in others 

 the barrings are only to be discerned when the bird is still 

 and fairly close to the observer, and the white of tlie abdomen 

 and under tail coverts is replaced by a bufiish-grey, scarcely 

 lighter than the other portion of the lower surface; these 

 variations have also been present in specimens that have in- 

 habited my aviaries at various times. Beak, black; legs and 

 feet, light brown; iris, red. Total length, 4^7 to 4i; inches. 



Adult female: Slightly smaller in size, more ashen in 

 colour, the red portions of the plumage are duller, and the 

 barrings less distinctly defined; also her beak is narrower at 

 the base than that of the male, but unless the birds are tame 

 enough to permit of comparison in the hand, this is very diffi- 

 cult to determine; at the same time the difference is readily 

 noted when comparing sexed skins. P. phmiicoptera is the 

 type of the genus, which the late Dr. A. C. Stark gives as 

 follows; "Bill slender, cone shaped and lengthened; culmen 

 "swollen and slightly arched. Nostrils hidden by nasal plumes. 

 "Wings rounded, the distance between the tips of the primaries 

 " and the tips of the secondaries less than the le.igth of t" e tarsus; 

 "the first quill very small. Tail short, graduated. Tarsi 



*Most of the feathers of the upper s^urfage hiiVQ their tips edged with 

 either dull red, or ruddy brown, 



