some grassfinches and other Gambian birds.



57



of the plumage of this bird, modified by a few necessary corrections

and additions, which I was able to make from the British Museum

Catalogue description or from observation of some specimens I had

at the time. This, on the whole, was I believe fairly accurate, but

as such lengthy descriptions of plumage usually mean very little or

nothing to most people, to myself particularly, as it is so difficult to

visualise exactly what the words mean, that I will not attempt any¬

thing of the sort here, but be content with a short general description,

referring any seeker after fuller details to Shelley’s description on

page 262 of Volume IV. of the “ Birds of Africa,” or to the more

accessible “ Foreign Birds for Cage and Aviary,” (A. G. Butler),

part I., page 152, where Shelley’s account is quoted.


Slightly larger than the common firefinch, the spotted in place

of the complete scarlet-red colour of the male of its relative, has

brown upper and pinky-crimson under parts with very distinct white

spots or short bars on the sides of the breast; the eye-ring is

narrower than that of L. senegala and grey not yellow. At first

glance the difference between the sexes is not marked, the adult

female (as described by Shelley) only differing from the male “ in

having no trace of red on the wings and a less amount of white

markings on the breast.” I think, too, one can say that the

crimson is slightly less bright. This red-on-the-wing difference

seems a really good diagnostic point, though it might not differen¬

tiate between a young male and the adult female. I believe I can


pick out a true pair from several seen together, but should not like


to attempt to sex any single individual, except by this wing-mark,

which though slight, is quite a distinct one, and then only with

a reservation as to young males. This point can only be made

out by handling the bird; then, when the wing is spread out, one


sees in the male that the edges of the upper wing-coverts ( i.e , just


within the angle of the wing on the upper surface,) are faintly washed

with dull crimson, while, on the other hand, in the female not a

trace of red is visible on the general brown colour here.


I know of no good coloured plate of this bird. In Reichen-

bach’s “ Singvogel,” there is a coloured figure (pi. 14, fig. 38), but

this does not in the least resemble the bird it purports to portray,

or indeed any bird at all, except perhaps the Christmas cake robin, var.



