SERINUS WHYTEI. 213 



Serinus whytei. 



Serinus whytei, Shelley, Ibis, 1897, p. 528, pi. 11 Nyika plateau. 



Type. Upper parts blackish brown with paler brown edges to the 

 feathers ; the pale edges of the feathers of the crown and hind neck paler 

 and yellower than on the back and wing-coverts ; quills and tail-feathers edged 

 with yellow ; sides of head dark olive brown, surmounted by a broad, well- 

 marked sulphur yellow eyebrow ; throat uniform sulphur yellow, shaded 

 with dusky brown towards the chin ; crop and body yellowish buff with 

 black shaft-stripes, broad and very distinct on the front and sides of the 

 body, and narrow on the under tail-coverts ; thighs and centre of abdomen 

 uniform; under wing-coverts yellowish buff; quills slaty brown beneath, 

 with pale inner margins. Bill horn colour ; legs brown. Total length 6 

 inches, culmen 0'55, wing 2-8, tail 2*75, tarsus 0-85. Nyika plateau, June 

 (Whyte). 



Whyte's Canary inhabits the Nyika plateau to the west of 

 Lake Nyasa in about 10° S. lat. 



The type, a female, was discovered by Mr. Alexander 

 . Whyte on the Nyika plateau, June, 1896, and this is all we 

 really know regarding the species, which is possibly a very 

 local form. The so-called Nyika plateau is the elevated dis- 

 trict to the west of the northern portion of Lake Nyasa, and 

 has a mean elevation of probably about 6,000 feet, the highest 

 point of the range, called " Centi-e Peak," being nearly 8,000 

 feet high. Mr. Whyte, on reaching this plateau, was struck 

 by the remarkably sudden change in the climate and flora. 

 Hitherto he had not found it disagreeably cold, and until 

 reaching the plateau there was little or no sign of an Alpine 

 flora. At his last camp, about 1,000 feet below, the tempera- 

 ture stood at 72° Fahr. in the shade at noon, and here it stood 

 at 60° Fahr. 



Serinus alario. 



Fringilla alario, Linn. S. N. I. p. 319 (1766) Cape. 



Maris alario, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xii. p. 346 (1888) Table Mountain, 

 Great Namaqua, Zambesi; Butler, Foreign Finches in Captivity, 

 p. 41, pi. 8, 3^ , 2 , 1894 ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 279 (1896) ; Stark, 

 Faun. S. Afr. B. i. p. 179 (1900). 



