322 Mr. A. L. Butler on Ike 



They were feeding on the ground, and at first, at a distance, 

 I almost thought that they were some kind of Starling. 



49. Plockipasser superciliosus (Rupp.). 

 a. ? . Jebel Melbis, April 18, 1904. 



My single specimen was shot from the top of a large 

 baobab tree between El Obeid and Jebel Melbis. Large 

 numbers of Bush-Sparrows were also frequenting these trees, 

 and I probably overlooked other individuals of this species 

 among them. 



50. SlTAGltA LUTEOLA (Licht.). 



a.$. Bara, April 26, 1904. i .. . 



> Breeding-plumage. 



"• O • )> }) )) ) 



c. ? . Jebel Abu Sinun, April 9, 1904. 



d. S • Roseires, May 1 904. 



This is the commonest Weaver-bird in the red-sand country 

 of Kordofan. At Bara it was frequenting the lime- and fig- 

 gardens in immense flocks at the end of April. At that date 

 only a very small percentage of the males had assumed the 

 breeding-plumage. I noticed it daily on the road between 

 Hashaba and El Obeid. 



51. HyPHANTOKNIS GALBULA Riipp. 



a. S • Gedaref, April 22, 1901. 



b. ¥ . R. Dinder, April 4, 1903. 



This Weaver-bird was in immense flights — tens, if not 

 hundreds, of thousands — between Gallabat and Gedaref in 

 April and May 1901. Though only a few shewed any traces 

 of the breeding-plumage at that date, they were already 

 beginning to build nests in the lime-trees at Gedaref. The 

 numbers of this species in the Eastern Soudan, and of 

 Ilyphantornis taniopterus on the White Nile, must be seen 

 to be believed. They can only be compared to locusts in 

 multitude, and their vast flights wheel and rise in the air 

 with a sound like the roar of a hurricane, resembling at a 

 distance great columns of smoke. The damage these birds 

 do to cultivation must be immense; and for this reason 

 I have heard of natives burning their breeding-colonies 

 wholesale. I once passed a disused breeding-place near the 



