298 SPOROPIPES 



Genus III. SPOKOPIPES. 



Bill as deep as broad at the nostrils, swollen at the base, and much 

 compressed towards the end ; culmen rounded and curved ; cutting edges 

 nearly straight and smooth ; keel slightly curved. Nostrils basal and hidden 

 by the frontal plumes. Primaries 2, 3, 4 and 5 longest and nearly equal, 

 1 about one-third of 2. Tail square, the centre pair of feathers slightly 

 the shortest. Tarsi and feet moderate ; claws rather short. Sexes alike 

 in plumage, mostly brown and white, with no red or yellow. 



Type. 



Sporopipes, Cab. Arch. Naturg. xiii. p. 332 (1847) . . S. squamifrons. 



Pholidocoma, Reichenb. Av. Syst. pi. 76 (1850) . . . S. squamifrons. 



The genus is confined to Tropical and South Africa, and comprises two 

 well-marked species. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



a. Hind neck ashy brown, like the back ; wing-coverts black, 

 with conspicuous white edges; lores, chin and a broad 

 line down the sides of the throat black squamifrons. 



h. Hind neck rufous ; wing-coverts brown ; lores and sides 

 of face ashy brown ; a moustachial band black, with white 

 dots frontalis. 



Sporopipes squamifrons. 



Estrelda squamifrons. Smith, Rep. Exped. C. Afr. 1836, p. 49 S. Africa. 



Sporopipes squamifrons, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 407 (1890) ; Shelley, 

 B. Afr. I. No. 452 (1896) ; Nehrkorn, Kat. Eiers. p. 128 (1899) egg; 

 Whitehead, Ibis, 1908 Orange Biver ; Reichen. Vog. Afr. iii. p. 16 

 (1904) ; Clarke, Ibis, 1904, p. 524 Natal. 



Amadina squamifrons. Smith, 111. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pi. 95 (1844). 



Fringilla lepidoptera, Licht. Verz. Kaffernl. p. 15 (1842). 



Adult male. Upper parts ashy brown ; forehead and front of crown 

 nearly black, with sharply defined narrow whitish edges, giving this part 

 a scale-like appearance ; tail, wing-coverts and secondaries blackish brown, 

 with sharply defined whitish edges ; remainder of quills browner, with 

 narrower brownish buff margins ; under surface of wings ashy brown, with 

 paler inner edges to the quills, and the under coverts ashy white ; front half 

 of sides of head black ; ear-coverts and sides of neck ashy brown like the 

 mantle ; cheeks and throat white, with the chin and two strongly marked 

 diverging bands jet black ; breast, thighs and under tail-coverts buff. 

 "Iris red; bill pnik ; ridge and tip darker; tarsi and feet pale brown." 

 Total length 4-2 inches, culmen 0-4, wing 2-3, tail 1-8, tarsus 065. J , 

 5. 1. 83. Rustenburg (T. Ayres). 



