244 Mr. R. Kemp on the Birds of 



months have been going about in small flocks, cease to be 

 gregarious and pair off, probably breeding in September and 

 October. 



132. EsTRILDA SUBFLAVA. 



Estrilda subflava (Vieill.) ; Shelley, B. Africa, iv. pt. 1, 

 p. 207(1905). 



Jagbamah, August. Irides and beak crimson ; feet and 

 claws flesh-coloured. 



Bo, August and September. 



A series of twenty skins of this Weaver-Finch, which 

 appear to be the first recorded from Sierra Leone. This 

 species is rather less common than E. occidentalis. 



133. Estrilda melpoda. 



Estrilda melpoda (Vieill.) ; Shelley, B. Africa, iv. pt. 1, 

 p. 212 (1905). 



A series of skins from Bo : February, July, and August 

 1904. Bill scarlet; iris black; feet and claws bluish 

 flesh-coloured. 



These Waxbills sometimes associate with the smaller 

 Manikins. 



134. Lagonosticta polionota. 



Lagonosticta polionota Shelley, Ibis, 1872, p. 141 (Cape 

 Coast Castle) ; Reichen. Vog. Afrikas, iii. p. 200 (1904) ; 

 Shelley, B. Africa, iv. pt. 1, p. 249 (1905). 



Tungie Bridge, June. Iris black ; eyelids pinkish; upper 

 mandible dark slate-coloured ; lower mandible and feet and 

 claws bluish slate-coloured. 



Bo : March, April, May, July, August, and September. 



Finding that four specimens which I took home to England 

 in 1903 differed considerably from those in the British 

 Museum, I obtained in 1904 a series of some thirty skins, 

 which distinctly shew the differences between the sexes and 

 also those between the young and the adult. 



These Fire - Finches are called by the Creoles here 

 "Thunder-birds." 



They are almost always seen in pairs, but sometimes two 

 or more pairs will be feeding close to each other on the bare 



