HYPHANTURGUS BRACHYPTERUS 391 



this latter locality came the type of Ploceus melanops. Hart!., 

 which apparently differed from the ordinary female of this 

 species in having the two centre tail-feathers black, a very 

 abnormal colouring of the tail for any of the Weaver-birds ; 

 possibly it was afterwards found that these black centre tail- 

 feathers did not truly belong to the specimen, and that may 

 account for the type haviug disappeai-ed. However, this is of 

 no great consequence, as the name Ploceus melaiwj)s had 

 previously been employed by Des Murs in Lefebvre's " Voyage 

 en Abyssinie," p. 110, to take the place of P. melanotis (non 

 Lafr.), Guerin. 



Demery collected a large series of specimens along the 

 Sulymah River, and close to Sierra Leone Mr. Kemp found 

 the species common at Rotifunk and Bo, and writes : " They 

 were much lighter sleepers than Sperniestes cucullafiis and 

 S. fringilloides, who roosted in an adjoining tree, and when 

 aroused at night the flutter of their wings against the leaves 

 made a noise like a waterfall. A palm-tree in the station-yard 

 bore considerably more than a hundred of their nests and was 

 the scene of great excitement in the mornings and evenings. 

 During and after the rains these Weavers assemble sometimes 

 in quite large flocks and fly together after the manner of 

 Starlings, turning and twisting in the air, changing from 

 yellow to green as their breasts or backs became most exposed 

 to view." In Liberia it has been obtained by Dr. Biittikofer 

 at Robertsport and Oldfield ; on the Gold Coast, Mr. Boyd 

 Alexander, who met with the species at Cape Coast, Prabsu, 

 Gambaga and Pong, writes : " This is a common species in 

 the wooded portion of the Colony, but not in the hinterland. 

 In the immature bird the upper mandible is pale brown, the 

 lower one light horn-colour." Buckley and I frequently met 

 with the species in pairs on Connor's Hill, close to Cape 

 Coast, also at Abouri in the Aguapim Mountains and along 

 the Accra coast. 



