SPERMOSPIZA 



Genus I. SPERMOSPIZA. 



Bill very stout, deeper than broad, dark metallic blue, with the tip, and 

 sometimes the edges of the mandible, red ; culmen rounded and slightly 

 curved ; keel with an upward curve ; cutting edges of mandibles slightly 

 festooned ; base of bill forming an acute angle on the forehead. Nostrils 

 basal and hidden by the frontal feathers. Wing rounded ; primaries 5 and 

 6 longest, two shorter than 10, 1 more than half of 2. Tenth quill falls 

 short of tip of wing by about one-third of the length of the tarsus. Tail 

 rounded. Tarsus moderate ; toes rather slender. A few hair-like plumes 

 on the back of the head and hind neck. Sexes differ in plumage, mostly in 

 the colouring of the breast, which in males is uniform black, where, in the 

 females, it is blackish, boldly spotted or barred with white. 



Type. 



Spermophaga (non Schonh. 1833), Swains. Classif. B. ii. 



p. 277 (1837) S'. luemaAina. 



Spermospiza, Gray, List Gen. B. 1840, p. 43 S. hcematina. 



The genus is confined to Tropical Africa and comprises three species. 

 They are not gregarious, but live in pairs, and construct their oval nest in 

 forks of the low bushes, usually in the undergrowth of the forest, which is 

 their home. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



a. Head not entirely red. 



a'. Bill only tipped with orange red; upper tail-coverts 

 not of the same bright crimson as the throat. 

 a". Upper tail-coverts and abdomen black .... hmmatina, J , ad. • 

 b". Upper tail-coverts dull crimson ; abdomen spotted 



or baiTed with white hamatina, 2 ^7 z_ 



b^. Bill with the edges of the mandibles orange red ; 

 upper tail-coverts glossy bright crimson, like the 

 throat. 



c". Abdomen black guttata, S ■' 



d". Abdomen spotted or barred with white .... guttata, J . ' 



b. Entire head crimson rubricapilla. ^ r. ^ 



Spermospiza haematina. 



Loxia hasmatina, Vieill. Ois. Chant, p. 102, pi. 67 (1805) Africa. 

 Spermospiza haematina, Sharps, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 498 (1890) ; Shelley, 



B. Afr. I. No. 448 (1896) ; Nehrkorn, Kat. Eiers. p. 131 (1899) egg ; 



Eeichen. J. f. 0. 1902, p. 36 Togo ; id. Vog. Afr. iii. p. 101 (1904). 

 Spermophaga cyanorhynchus, Swains. B. W. Afr. i. p. 164 (1837) Senegal. 

 Spermospiza guttata (non Vieill.), Reichen. .7. f. O. 1902, p. 36 Togo. 



