326 PLOCEPASSER MAHALI 



the coverts and broad inner edges to the quills, buif ; under parts white, 

 shaded with buff on the breast. "Iris dark red; bill horn colour: legs 

 brown " (Buckley). Total length 6-8 inches, culmen 0-7, wing 3-9, tail 2-5, 

 tarsus I'O. " $ , betweeu the Orange R. and the Tropic " (Smith). 



Adult female. Like the male. " Iris bright red brown ; bill light 

 dusky biuwn, with under mandible pale brown." "Wing, 3-8. 2 , 3. 5. 79. 

 Ehinoster R. (T. Ayres). 



Smith's Sparrow-Weaver ranges from Angola and Matabele- 

 land into Eastern Cape Colony and the Transvaal. 



The most northern range I can find for the species is 

 Biballa, near the right bank of the Quanza River ; here it has 

 been j^rocured by Auchieta, who also records it as abundant 

 in the flat country round Capangombe and obtained specimens 

 at Maconjo, Kiulo, and in the Humbe district. 



The species is represented in the British Museum from the 

 following localities : Capangombe, Maconjo and Rio Chimba 

 (Anchieta), Matalko (Andersson), Griqualand (Atmore), 

 Matabele (T. B. Buckley), Palatsie River (F. Gates). Anders- 

 son writes : " Damaraland proper would seem to be the 

 stronghold of this species ; but I have also found it abundant 

 at Lake Ngami and in the neighbourhood of the Okavango, 

 and it likewise occurs, though less frequently, in Great Nama- 

 qualand. It is gregarious in its habits and may occasionally 

 be seen in large flocks; it usually frequents the wildest and 

 most desolate spots, far away from either fountain or stream." 

 He adds: "At the beginning of the rainy season this bird 

 occasionally, though rarely, sings so melodiously that I have 

 seldom heard an;y thing more exquisite." From south of the 

 Orange River it is known to me only by Ortlepp haviug 

 procured the species at Colesberg, and Bradshaw " met with 

 a small colony of these birds in a valley of thorn trees several 

 miles south of the Orange River, when coming down from the 

 border in May, 1882." 



Sir Andrew Smith discovered the species in the country 



