Birds of Gazaland. 21 



once found this Waxbill at any great distance from water, 

 lu Northern Melsetter, too, I noted it on one occasion only, 

 a party of three insect-hunting in the branches of a large 

 Brachystegia, at an elevation of 6500 feet in the Chimani- 

 mani Mountains, in September. Six birds, measured in the 

 ilesh, averaged 3*8 inches, with a variation of from 3'6 to 

 3*9 inches : the irides were always brown in my specimens, 

 usually dark, and never with any trace of red ; the feet deep 

 sepia-coloured. As the male, so far as I know, always 

 resembles the female in lacking the black cheeks of Estrilda 

 bocagii (Shelley), our local form of this Waxbill is evidently 

 referable to E. kilimensis. Its extreme south-eastern range 

 was previously the Nyika plateau in Nyasaland. 



27. Spermestes scutatus. Hooded Weaver-Finch. 

 Chindao : " Chinyamdzururu '^ (applied to many of the 



Waxbills, &c.) 



Rh., P. By no means an uncommon bird. A flock will 

 sometimes frequent a homestead for months together, living 

 on the waste from the mill or haunting the spot where the 

 dishes are washed. When disturbed these birds rose with a 

 twittering chorus into the nearest trees, but if I halted and 

 remained perfectly quiet they quickly came down again and 

 fed all round, venturing right up to my feet. They are- 

 destructive to wheat. I found them very plentiful and very 

 tame on the Kurumadzi, going about in large flocks in the 

 grass-jungle and feeding almost entirely on grass-seeds. 

 The upper mandible of the bill is blackish, the lower pale 

 blue-grey or white tinged with blue ; the iris is dark grey- 

 brown j the feet are dusky. Seven specimens measured gave 

 an average of 3'87 inches in the flesh, the extremes being 

 3'6 and 4 inches. • 



28. Spermestes nigriceps. Rufous-backed Weaver- 

 Finch, 



Rh., P, Common on the Kurumadzi in large flocks, and 

 wonderfully tame and fearless, I have on several occasions 

 approached to within a few yards of them, as, huddled side 

 by side, four or five to a grass-stem, they watched mc without 



