254 PASSER DIFFUSUS. 



Lieutenant Thierry in Mangu, the hinterland of the German 

 Togo colony. 



In 1883 I recognised that the name P. simplex (Swains, 

 nee Licht.), by which these "West African Sparrows were then 

 generally known, could not be employed, so suggested that of 

 P. occidentalis, not being then aware that they had previously 

 received the name of Pyrgifa gnlaris from Lessow in 1839. 

 The type of my P. occidentalis is the late Mr. Forbes' specimen 

 from Lukoja on the Niger, where, according to his notes, it was 

 one of the commonest birds, but Dr. Reichenow considered it 

 to be scarce in Camaroons. In 1861 Hartlaub mentioned a 

 specimen from St. Thomas' Island, but the locality is no 

 doubt incorrect, as the species has been omitted fi'om all 

 the more recent lists of birds from that island. In Gaboon it 

 is known to the natives, according to Marche, as the " Band- 

 tschogoi," and at Humbe, in Benguela, Anchieta informs us 

 it is called " Embolio " or " Kimbolio." 



According to Andersson's observation these Sparrows are 

 scarce in Damaraland but more abundant on approaching the 

 Okovango river, and Mr. Fleck met with them in the Kalahari. 

 The type of the species was discovered by Sir Andrew Smith 

 in the country between the tropics and the Orange river, and 

 I met with it at Wellington in the south of Cape Colony. 



Throughout the eastern half of the continent, to as far north 

 as the junction of the Atbara with the Nile, the species appears 

 to be as evenly distributed as on the west side, but it gives way 

 to some extent to P. crassirostria in the Masai district. For 

 the specimens from the Uganda district Dr. Reichenow has 

 proposed the name of P. diffusus ngatidse, on account of the 

 rufous shade on the mantle and the wing being long, characters 

 which would readily be matched by examples in the British 

 Museum from the Gold Coast, Natal and the Zanzibar district. 

 Mr. Jackson procured specimens only at Ntebi and Nandi, and 



