SERINUS CANICOLLIS. 187 



Adult male. Forehead, most of the crown, and nearly the whole front 

 of the head deep dull yellow like the entire throat ; back of head and back 

 and sides of neck uniform ashy grey, shading into deep olive tinted yellow 

 on the mantle which is obscurely streaked ; lower back and upper tail-covert 

 uniform yellow with only an obsolete shade of olive. Wing brownish black, 

 with yellow edges to the feathers, broadest on the inner secondaries and the 

 coverts, and shaded with olive towards the lesser coverts, which are like the 

 mantle ; under surface, with the inner margin of the quills and the coverts 

 brownish white partially washed with yellow towards the bend of the wing 

 where there are some blackish bars. Tail pale yellovi'ish brown with bright 

 yellow outer edges and blackish shaft-stripes. Centre of the chest and the 

 under tail- coverts brighter yellow than the throat; abdomen and thighs 

 brownish white ; bides of the body ashy buff. " Iris dusky ; bill dusky with 

 the lower mandible pale ; tarsi and feet dark olive brown." Total length 

 5-1 inches, culmen 0-35, wing 3-2, tail 23, tarsus 0-6. <? , 8. 7. 78. Rusteuburg 

 (W. Lucas). 



Male, in breeding plumage. Differs in having all the yellow of the 

 plumage brighter. ^ , 20. 10. Pinetown (T. L. Ayres). 



Adult female. Differs, in the grey of the neck encroaching on the yellow 

 of the sides of the head and throat ; crown with black shaft-stripes ; mantle 

 shaded with In-own and with broad dark brown shaft-stripes. Total length 

 4-8 inches, wing 2-9, tail 2.2. ? , 20. 8. 81. Drakensburg (Butler). 



In immature birds, the yellow on the sides of the head and on the 

 throat is almost replaced by ashy brown and there are a few blackish stripes 

 on the flanks. 



The Cape Canary inhabits 8oiith Africa, south from 

 Damaraland and the Transvaal, and the species lias been 

 introduced into the islands of Reunion and Mauritius. 



In the British Museum there are specimens from Elephant 

 river in Damaraland and from Macamac in the Transvaal, and 

 I cannot trace the range of the species any further north. The 

 late Dr. Stark wrote : " Tiiis well-known and favourite cage- 

 bird is, in its vfild state, a common resident in nearly all 

 districts that are overgrown with bushes or low trees varied 

 with open glades and clearings. It is perhaps most abundant 

 on the bush-clad lower slopes of hills and mountains as well as 

 in gardens and shrubberies, and I have met with it in some 

 numbers among the low scrub on the sandy coast of Little 

 Namaqualand. In autumn and winter small flocks frequent 



