344 ANAPLECTES RUBRICEPS 



Sharpia ayresi, a male shot December 10, differs from the 

 female plumage in having the forehead margined with blackish 

 brown. 



The only specimen met with by Mr. Sowerby, at Fort 

 Chiququa, in Mashonaland, November 9, is a male in full 

 plumage, but Mr. Guy Marshall writes : " This handsome 

 species is common about Salisbury, occurring in pairs in the 

 bush, where it searches the trees and bushes assiduously for 

 insects, often hanging back downwards, like a Tit." The egg 

 he describes as pale greenish blue, measuring 0-8 x 0-6. 

 From the Zambesi Mr. Boyd Alexander writes : " A rather 

 shy species, keeping much to the thick portions of the woods 

 in little flocks of live or six birds, in which the jnale sex pre- 

 dominates to a very large extent. On nearly every occasion 

 there were on an average four males to one female. The white 

 flower of the baobab offer them a good deal of attraction, and 

 it is a pretty sight to witness them attacking the pendent 

 half -opened buds as they hang head downward from some 

 branch above, the immaculate whiteness of the flowers bearing 

 a striking contrast to their vermilion-feathered breasts. From 

 this habit of suspending themselves from branches, the white 

 feathers become very grimy-looking. 



" The amount of vermilion on the breasts of individuals 

 varies considerably, while in many of our specimens the upper 

 tail-coverts are washed with it as well as the feathers here and 

 there on the abdomen and thighs. In freshly moulted females 

 the white edgings to the secondaries are broad and con- 

 spicuous, but these disappear through abrasion." 



To the north of the Zambesi Mr. Whyte has procured 

 specimens at Zomba and Mpimbi in the Shire district, and at 

 Fort Hill on the southern end of the Masuku Range ; a little 

 further north, on tlie Tanganyika Plateau, Gen. Manning 

 obtained a full plumaged example of A. gurneyi, the only 



