— 307 — 



The maies of thèse four fornis mav be distinguished as 

 follows : 



I. — Witlioiit any red un the top of thc licad. 



S. h. haematina : upper tail-coverts blue-black, seldom, and 

 then only verv faintlv, washed with red; breast brighter rëd than 

 in leonina. 



S. h. leonina : upper tail-coverts washed with red; breast duller 

 red than in haematina. 



S. Ji. togoensis : upper tail-coverts speckled with dark red. Size 

 larger than in leonina. 



S. h. pusttilata : upper tail-coverts scarlet. 



As we pass south from Sénégal the birds graduallv assume scarlet 

 upper tail-coverts and the degree which this has taken place is 

 almost constant in the areas inhabited bv the tour fornis, but birds 

 from west of the Gold Coast (Togoland, Sierra Leone, etc.) 

 approach the tvpical species more nearlv than birds from east of 

 the Gold Coast (S. Nigeria, Cameroon, etc.) which hâve assumed 

 the quite red tail. 



• The females of the four forms are rather more confusing, ail hâve 

 the upper tail-coverts varions shades of red except, apparentlv, 

 togoensis which I hâve not seen ; ail hâve the breast red and the 

 bellv .black covered with white spots. 



S. h. haematina has the top of the head and sides of the face 

 washed with dull red; upper tail- coverts dull red. 



S. h. leonina has the same colouring as haet?iatina but the red 

 wash on the head extends further back on to the hind crown. 



S. h. togoensis has the crown grev and no red on the upper 

 tail-coverts. 



S. II. pastulata has the head slate-grev and the upper tail-coverts 

 bright scarlet. Thèse four races inhabit well marked areas as can 

 be seen bv examining the distribution on any map. 



We now come to the other two members of the genus : Speriao- 

 spiza ruficapilla and Spermospiza poliogenys. The maies of both 

 thèse two species, for such thev must remain, as thev inhabit the 



