Birds of Gazahind. 17 



18. Pytelia xitidula. Hartlaub's Red-faced Weaver- 

 Finch. 



Rh., P. Occasionally seen in Chirinda, and shot, once, in 

 thick bush, on the Kurumadzi in August 1906. On the 

 2nd of September I secured a male, already in full breeding- 

 plumage, in Chirinda; it was uttering a note much resembling 

 that of Eritliacus swynnertoni, for which species I should cer- 

 tainly have taken it had the sound not proceeded from fairly 

 high in the trees, whither I have never noted the Robin to 

 ascend. It was being answered by the same note. The bill 

 is black, the gonys and the tip of the upper mandible being 

 strongly tinged with red in the breeding male ; the feet are 

 pale brown, in one specimen tinged with yellow ; and the 

 irides (in the Kurumadzi specimen, apparently the only one 

 in which they were noted) dark brown. In an immature 

 bird the base of the gonys was pale pinkish and the feet very 

 pale greyish pink. 



Length in the flesh (of three specimens measured) from 

 3o to 375 inches. 



19. Lagonosticta brunmceps. Little Ruddy Waxbill. 

 P. During my stay at Chibabava in December last, a 



party of seven, including two cocks, became very tame and 

 friendly ; they constantly frequented my verandah for the 

 sake of the waste from my meal-bags, and would boldly 

 enter the hut in search of crumbs. A neighbouring 

 mulberry- hedge was their refuge when disturbed and they 

 also roosted in it regularly at night. Later on I noted this 

 Waxbill at Gezanye, a few miles north of Arucate. 



My two specimens appear to belong to the southern form, 

 separated by Capt. Shelley as L. rendalli (B. Afr. iv. p. 260). 

 They measured respectively 3'8 {$) and 3-75 inches ( ? ), in 

 the flesh. In both the upper mandible was blackish with some 

 red on the sides, and the lower mandible red (carmine-pink) 

 with a median line of black. The stomachs contained seeds 

 and the elytra of a small beetle. 



20. Lagonosticta RHODoPAREiA. Heuglin's Ruddy Waxbill. 

 Lagonosticta rhodopareia Reichen. Vog. Afr. iii. p. 200. 

 Rh., P. More or less plentiful throughout, but especially 



STR. IX. VOL. II, c 



