206 SERINUS SULPHURATUS. 



somewhat elongated and tapering towards the smaller 

 extremity. They average 0'85 X 0-60. 



" Incubation lasts for fourteen days, and the young remain 

 in the nest for from three to four weeks. During this period 

 they are fed on insects and on the contents of the crops of the 

 parent birds." 



In Zululand the Messrs. Woodward procured the species 

 at Eschowe and Mr. T. Ayres shot specimens in Natal and the 

 Transvaal, and from the latter colony in the Lydenberg district 

 wrote : " This bird I found in the woods in the ravines of the 

 mountains often busy feeding about the upper twigs and foliage 

 of the trees and shrubs." 



In East Africa specimens have been collected by Fischer 

 at Matangisi in Ugogo, at Salanda on Victoria Nyanza and as 

 far north as Naiwaslia lake. In this latter district specimens 

 have also been procured by Mr. Jackson at this lake and in 

 the mountains at Ravine, where he records the species as 

 scarce, but collected five males and three females in March, 

 July and August. Lord Delamere shot a male at lake Nakuro 

 on the first day of this century and it is now in the British 

 Museum. 



I fail to see any character for distinguishing the East 

 African Equatorial specimens fi'om the Cape Colony birds, and 

 the description I have taken from a male and female shot by 

 Mr. Jackson at Ravine agree to a nicety with those from South 

 Africa, including one of Andersson's from Cape Town, and on 

 the label of one of the East African specimens in the British 

 Museum is written 8. sharjni in, I believe, Mr. Oscar Neumann's 

 hand-writing. It may, however, appear strange that from the 

 country between the Limpopo river and Ugogo the species 

 has not yet been recorded ; but this tract of country, like 

 Angola, are the portions of Africa which have been least 

 explored scientifically. As a cage-bird the species requires 

 the same treatment as 8. canicollis. 



