492 rOUniA EMINENTISSIMA 



Poudia eminentissima. 



Foudia eminentissima, Bp. Consp. i. p. 446 (1850) Zanzibar; Shelley, 

 B. Afr. I. No. 498 (189G). 



Nesacanthis eminentissima, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 484 (1890) 

 Johanna IsL, Great Comoro Isl. ; Butler, Foreign Finches in Cap- 

 tivity, p. 308, pi. 59, fig. 2 (1894). 



Ploceus algondaj, Schl. P. Z. S. 1866, p. 423 Mayottc Isl 



Calypbantria comorensis. Cab. in Decken's Eeis. iii. p. 31, pi. 10 (1869) 

 Mayotte Isl. 



Foudia consobrina, Milne, Edvv. and Oust. C. E. Acad. Sc. 1885, p. 222. 



Ploceus (Foudia) anjuanensis, Milne, Edw. and Oust. N. Arch. Mus. (2) vi. 

 Bull. p. 271 (1888). 



Adult male. Head, entire neck, rump and upper tail-coverts vermilion 

 or orange red ; mantle, wings and tail dusky black, with olive green edges 

 to the feathers, broad on the mantle, wing-coverts and inner secondaries, 

 where they are sometimes tinted with scarlet, narrow on the tail-feathers 

 and most of the quills ; lower back more uniform olive ; under surface of 

 wings dark brown, with the coverts and inner edges of the quills buff; a 

 black patch on the side of the head extending back from the upper man- 

 dible surrounds the eye and narrows to a point over the ear- coverts ; breast 

 ashy white washed to a variable extent with red and shaded with ashy 

 olive on the flanks and under tail-coverts. " Iris reddish brown ; bill black ; 

 tarsi and feet flesh-colour " (Butler). Total length 5-7 inches, culmen 0-7, 

 wing 3-0, tail 2-2, tarsus 09. S , Great Comoro (Kirk). 



Adult female. Differing in having no red on the plumage ; top of head, 

 rump and upper tail-coverts brown with a slight olive shade ; eyebrow and 

 uuderparts ashy buff, with the flanks, thighs and under tail-coverts browner, 

 and a dusky band through the eye. Bill pale brown. Wing 2-9. Johanna 

 Isl. (Kirk). 



Winter 2)lumage. Alike in both sexes, the male only assuming the red 

 for the breeding season. 



Tlie Comoro Fod}' inhabits the Comoro Islands. 



Dr. P. L. Sclater wrote in 186-i: "The Comoros are a 

 group of four islands lying in the northern part of the Mozam- 

 bique Channel, between Madagascar and the opposite coast of 

 Africa. They are all of volcanic origin, and probably of quite 

 recent formation ; but only one of them (Great Comoro) is 

 now an active volcano, the other three (Mohilla, Johanna, or 

 Aujuan, and Mayotte) being in a quiescent state." 



