448 PACHYPHANTES SUPERCILIOSUS 



The genus, which includes only one known species, is confined to 

 Western Ti'opical Africa. 



Pachyphantes superciliosus. 



Hyphantornis superciliosus, Shelley, Ibis, 1873, p. 140 W. Africa; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 470, pi. 14 (1890). 



Pachyphantes superciliosus, Shelley, B. Ah". I. No. 494 (1896). 



Ploceus superciliosus, Reichen. J. f. O. 1902, p. 36 Togo; id. Vog. Afr. 

 iii. p. 96 (1904). 



Ploceus pachyrhynchus, Reichen. Orn. Monatsb. 1893, p. 29 Karevia. 



Pachyphantes pachyrhynchus, Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 495 (1896). 



Adult male. Crown golden yellow, strongly shaded with chestnut on the 

 forehead, and passing into yellowish olive on the nape ; back of neck, back 

 and upper tail-coverts yellowish olive, with brownish black centres to the 

 feathers, most strongly marked on the mantle ; tail and wings dark brown, 

 with narrow pale edges to the feathers ; under wing-coverts and inner edges 

 of the quills sandy buff ; sides of head, chin and middle throat black, the 

 black ending in a point just in front of the crop, which is golden yellow, of 

 a rather more tawny shade than the yellow of the sides of the upper neck 

 and breast; abdomen, thighs and under tail-coverts sandy buff. "Iris 

 brown ; upper mandible horny black, lower one blue grey ; legs brownish 

 flesh-colour" (Forbes). Total length 5 inches, culmen 0-75, wing 2-5, tail 

 1-8, tarsus 0'8. Fantee (Sharpe Coll.). 



Adult female. Differs in having the forehead and crown black, with a 

 few olive yellow tips to the feathers ; sides of forehead chestnut, passing into 

 a broad golden yellow eyebrow ; the yellow of the upper neck encroaches 

 somewhat upon the ear-coverts. "Iris, bill and legs as in the male" 

 (Forbes). Wing 2-5. West Africa (Brit. Mus.). 



Male in winter. No yellow on the plumage. Upper parts sandy brown, 

 shading into dull black on the crown ; mantle striped, with blackish centres 

 to the feathers ; pale edges to the feathers of the wings and tail broader ; 

 sides of forehead and a broad eyebrow rufous buff, separated by a black band 

 through the eye from the rufous buff of the cheek and ear-coverts, which 

 colour spreads over the throat, sides of neck, body and the under tail-coverts, 

 fading into white on the centre of the breast. 



The Compact Weaver ranges from Liberia to the Congo 

 and eastward into the Upper White Nile district. 



In Northern Lil)eria Demery procured a male specimen in 

 a cane jungle near Juring, while on his expedition up the 



