THK FINCHES AND WKAVEK HIRDS OF THE Sl'DAN 1 fi? 



Fomales ;ind non-breeding males mottled blackish and palo brown, with a bull' 

 eyebrow. The red-and-black breeding males must be familiar to every resident 

 in the Sudan; they are, however, in small proportion to the brown-plumaged birds. 

 I believe they are polygamous, as only two red males used to appear at a little 

 colony of some H or 10 nests which I knew of at Khartoum. The nests are woven 

 of grass, placed in high grass or dura, and contain pale blue eggs. It is found 

 from Dongola southwards over a great part of the Sudan. I have it from Khartoum, 

 the White Nile, Blue Nile, Gedaref, Kordofan, Bahr-El-Ghazal, and Mongalla. 

 Though destructive and abundant it does not occur in any such immense numbers 

 as the red-billed Quelea referred to in the next genus. 



•31. I'ljromelana ftaiiiiniceps, Swains (Fire-crowned Bishop-bird). Length, 5'2 

 inches ; wing, 3. Very like the last, but a trifle larger, and with the black and 

 scarlet differently distributed. The crown of the head is scarlet, the chin and 

 tliroat l)lack, instead of vice versa. Does not range nearly so far north as the last. 

 I have it from Mongalla only. Females like those of the last. 



32. Pi/i-omelanaladoensis,'Reich.en. (Lado Yellow-crowned Bishop-bird). Length, 

 4'3 inches; wing, 2'2. Breeding males : crown of the head and back bright canary- 

 yellow. Sides of head, a broad collar round the neck, and under surface velvety- 

 black. Females and out-of-plumage males very like those of other Pijromelanas. 

 Abundant at Lado, where Emin discovered it. Mr. Hawker obtained it on the 

 White Nile near Kodok, but in ten years I have never come across it. 



33. Pi/romelana xarithoinelas, Riipp. (Riippell's Black and Yellow Bishop-bird). 

 Length, 5-.5 inches ; wing, 3. Breeding male black, with the lower half of the back 

 and some markings on the wings bright yellow. Females mottled blackish-brown. 

 Non-breeding males similar, but retaining yellow on back and wings. Antinori 

 obtained it on the Upper White Nile, which is all I can find regarding its occurrence 

 in the Sudan. 



Genus : Quelea. 



34. Quelea mthiopica, Sundev. (Bufl'-fronted Dioch). (Plate XII.). Length, 4-7 

 inches ; wing, 2-7. Bill stout and strong, bright red. Plumage of the back streaked, 

 with blackish centres to the feathers and pale edges at all seasons. Non-breeding 

 males and females with the crown of the head brown with dusky centres to the 

 feathers, and a pale eyebrow stripe ; beneath whitish buff'. Males in breeding plumage 

 develop a black "mask" on the face, extending from the eyes down to the throat; 

 the top of the head and the underparts are buff', or buff' more or less strongly 

 tinged with pale claret colour. 



This is quite one of the most destructive birds in the Sudan, and, owing to its 

 immense numbers, one of the most serious enemies of agriculturists. It is widely 

 spread in the Kassala, Sennar and Kordofan Provinces, on the White Nile, Zeraf, 

 and Upper Nile as far as Lado, collecting in vast flights of hundreds of thousands, 

 or millions even, on ripening grain crops. It breeds in large colonies, hanging its 

 woven ball-shaped nests on acacias, " Sessabans," etc. 



35. Quelea erythrops, Hartl. (Dark-throated Eed-headed Dioch). Length, ."rl 

 inches; wing, 2-55. Bill black in males, dark brown in females. Entire head and 

 throat crimson, shading into blackish on the chin. Plumage otherwise very similar 

 to the last. Heuglin obtained a specimen somewhere in the neighbourhood of 

 Rumbek, which is all I know of its occurrence in the Sudan. 



36. Quelea cardinalis, Hartl. (Cardinal Dioch). Length, 4'3 inches ; wing, 2'3. 



