Ornithology of the Egyptian Soudan. 317 



35. Vidua serena Hart. 



a. <J . Fachi Shoya, White Nile, Nov. 14, 1902. 

 Appears to be rather scarce. My specimen is the only 

 one that I have noticed in full breeding-plumage. 



36. Steganura paradisea (Linn.). 



a, <?. Jebel Alatarang, June 9, 1901. 



b. $ . Jebel Ain, Nov. 5, 1902. 



C" O • >) )> 3) 15 



"• O ' ■)} >} >•> 55 



e. <J . Kawa, Nov. 16, 1902. 



The Paradise Widow-Bird is widely distributed in the 

 Soudan ; I have noted it from the Setit and the Abyssinian 

 frontier on the east to Fashoda on the White Nile, and 

 to El Obeid in Kordofan. I have met with males in full 

 breeding-plumage in every month from August to December. 

 My specimens, and all others from the Soudan which I have 

 seen, with the exception of two caged birds from the Sobat, 

 have the collar round the neck bright pale yellow. Stark 

 (Birds of S. Afr. vol. i. p. 150) describes this collar as bright 

 mahogany-red in South-African specimens, and in the plate 

 in Dr. Butler's ( Foreign Finches' it is so represented. But 

 in correspondence on this point the Director of the South- 

 African Museum informs me that the specimens in the 

 collection there have yellow collars, and do not in this 

 particular agree with Stark's description. This variation in 

 the colour of the collar seems quite fortuitous, and not 

 connected with locality, as the two chestnut-collared live 

 specimens from the Sobat were accompanied by several 

 others which had the collar yellow. 



37. Urobrachya phcenicea (Heugl.). 



a. J . Meshra-el-Rek, March 7, 1902. 



b. <$ . River Dinder, March 1903. 



In February and March 1902 I found the Orange- 

 shouldered Weaver-bird fairly common in flocks along the 

 White Nile from Kaka to Fashoda, along the Bahr-el-Ghazal 

 as far as Meshra-el-Rek, and on the Jur River. On the 

 eastern side of the country I have met with it on the Dinder 



SER. VIII. — vol. v. L 



