SYCOBROTUS GREGALIS 367 



Eupodes xanthosomus, Jard. and Selby, 111. Oru. n. s. pi. 10 (1837) 

 S. Afr., Sierra Leone. 

 Sycobrotas " bicolor, Vieill." Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 422 (1890) ; 

 Sbelley, B. Afr. I. No. 50-3 (1896) ; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 176 

 Poildoland. 

 Adults. Upper parts and entire sides of the head glossy sepia brown ; 

 an ill-defined yellow band across the rump and a wash of olive on the 

 upper tail-coverts ; wings and tail of a more silky and less velvety appear- 

 ance ; primaries with narrow whitish edges ; under surface of wing, with 

 the inner edges of the quills and the coverts white, the latter with a 

 broadish band of sepia brown at the bend of the wing ; chin and upper 

 throat white, shading into bright golden yellow on the remainder of the 

 under parts ; chin and upper throat generally somewhat barred with the 

 black bases of the feathers, this character is usually but not always most 

 strongly marked in the male ; in the middle of the fore chest there are 

 a few partly hidden Ijlaek feathers. " Iris dark Ijrown ; bill pale horny grey, 

 shaded with black on the culmen towards the tip; legs lilac pink." Total 

 length 5-8 and 60 inches, culmen 0-75, wing 3-5 and 3-35, tail 2-3, tarsus 0-9. 

 J , 5 , 0. 75, Pinetown (T. L. Ayres). 



The Natal Dark-backed Weaver inhabits Eastern Cape 

 Colony, Natal and Zuliiland. 



It is represented in the British Museum by specimens from 

 Grahamstown, Eland's Post, Kingwilliamstown, East London, 

 and a fine series from Durban and Pinetown. The type of 

 Ploceus chrysogaster was procured by Mr. Henry Ellis near 

 Algoa Bay, which is the most western range I can find for the 

 species, and it is apparently not uncommon there. Layard 

 writes : " The most western point reached by it being Van 

 Stadden's River, near Port Elizabeth, where we obtained it 

 in March, 1870, in the wooded kloofs tlirongh which that river 

 flows. Mr. Rickard tells us that he received several specimens 

 from Kraggakamma, near Port Elizabeth. Proceeding east- 

 ward, we saw it sparingly near Grahamstown, the Kowie, 

 Kat Berg, and Keish Kamma, and Dr. Atherston tells us that 

 it is found all along the east coast." 



In Natal I found it inhabiting the thickest parts of the 

 bush, and being of an enquiring mind, it frequently approaches 



