SPOROPIPES FUONTALIS 801 



Sporopipes frontalis emini, Neum. J. f. O. 1900, p. 283 Ugogo. 



Le Senegal! a front pointille, Vieill. Ois. Chant, p. 39, pi. 16 (1805). 



Adults. Forehead and front of crown black, spotted with tiny white 

 tips to the feathers ; remainder of crown, back and sides of neck pale 

 cinnamon, with lanceolate black centres to the feathers of the hinder crown ; 

 back and lesser wing-coverts ashy brown ; remainder of the wings and the 

 tail rather darker brown, v;ith brownish buff edges to the median and greater 

 coverts, inner secondaries and the feathers of the tail ; primary coverts and 

 the primaries nearly uniform ; inner edges of quills and the under wing- 

 coverts brownish white ; sides of head very pale ashy brown, the hinder 

 part bordered by the pale cinnamon of the upper neck ; a moustachial band 

 of black, spotted with tiny white tips to the feathers ; under parts white, 

 tinted with ashy brown on the crop, front and sides of the breast. " Iris 

 brown ; bill and feet pale yellowish horn-colour " (Heuglin). Total length 

 45 inches, culmen 0-45, wing 2-5, tail 18, tarsus 0-65. J , 2. 7. 80, and ? , 

 26. 6. 80. Eedjaf (Emin). 



Immature. Similar to the adult, from which it differs in the entire 

 absence of white tips to the black feathers of the head, and in the broad pale 

 edges of the wings and tail-feathers being more rufous buff. 



The Speckled-fronted Weaver ranges from Senegambia into 

 Abyssinia, and southward into Ugogo. 



The type of the species came from Senegambia, and speci- 

 mens have been procured by Verreaux from Casamanse and 

 by Beaudouin from Bissao. 



According to Heuglin these Weavers are abundant in 

 North-east Africa to as far north as 17° N. lat., and in the 

 warmer parts of the Abyssinian coast. They were beginning 

 to breed in Bogos in September, and he found the young able 

 to fly when he visited Kordofan in November. The nest is 

 large and oval, generally placed in the centre of a most 

 impenetrable thorn-bush. It is constructed of dry grass, with 

 a small centre chamber well lined with feathers, hair, roots 

 and wool. During the breeding season they live in pairs, and 

 frequent the open country where there are trees for them to 

 nest in, but as autumn sets in they assemble in large flocks, 

 which alight like Sparrows on the roofs of houses or in the 

 stubble-fields and pasture-laud, and retire to roost in the high 



