HYPHANTORNIS GRANDIS 431 



Ploceus collaris (nou Vieill.), Fraser, P. Z. S. 1842, p. 142 ,S7. Thomas 

 Isl. ; id. Zool. Types, pi. 45 (1849). 



Adult male. Head, chin and upper throat jet black ; neck dark chestnut, 

 which colour extends somewhat on to the nape ; mantle yellowish olive, 

 with indistinct blackish shaft-stripes and shading into fairly bright yellow on 

 the lower back and upper tail-coverts ; tail entirely yellowish olive ; wings 

 blackish brown, the lesser coverts and scapulars broadly edged with olive 

 yellow ; median coverts with broad yellow ends ; greater coverts and inner 

 secondaries with yellow edges ; remainder of quills and the primary-coverts 

 with more obscure olive yellow edges ; inner margins of quills yellowish 

 buff; under wing-coverts bright yellow like the breast, thighs and under tail- 

 coverts ; the rufous brown of the throat extending slightly on to the chest. 

 Iris yellow ; bill black ; legs horny brown. Total length 8 inches, 

 culmen 1-2, wing 4-4, .tail 2-8, tarsus 1-3. <? , 10. 68, St. Thomas Isl. 

 (Monteiro). 



Adult female. Upper parts ashy olive, with blackish shaft-stripes and 

 terminal edges to the feathers of the top of the head and back of neck, and 

 broad dark centres to those of the mantle and scapulars ; lower back, upper 

 tail-coverts and tail uniform, the olive brightest on the edges of the feathers ; 

 wings as in the male, but the yellow is paler and nearly white on the under- 

 coverts and bend of the wing ; sides of head and neck brownish olive ; 

 under parts white, shaded with rust brown on the crop and sides of the 

 throat ; flanks duller brown ; thighs with the hinder part dusky ash. Bill 

 brown, fading into ilesh-colour on the lower part of the under mandible. 

 Wing 4-3. ? , 22. 10. 88, St. Thomas Isl. (F. Newton). 



The Great Black-headed Weaver inhabits the IsLind of St. 

 Thomas. 



This handsome species, the largest of the Weaver-Birds, 

 was first described by Eraser as Ploceus collaris, but that name 

 having been previously give to another species by Vieillot 

 in 1819, Gould renamed it IIi/plucnkDiiis gmndi.^. It is a very 

 abundant bird on the Island of St. Thomas, to which it is 

 apparently restricted, and is known there, according to Mr. F. 

 Newton, as the " Camicella." In habits it closely resembles 

 H. cucullatus, its common representative on the West African 

 coast. An egg supposed to belong to this bird is remarkably 

 small, it is described by Prof. Bocage as uniform yellowish 

 white and measuring only 0"8 x 0"G8. 



