18 VIDUA SERENA 
I have generally found most strongly developed in birds from 
Senegambia and British Hast Africa. 
In Liberia Mr. Biittikofer found the species common on the 
deserted farm-lands which had become overgrown with grass 
and bushes; he also met with it frequenting gardens in the 
centre of villages, and congregating in large flocks after the 
breeding season. When I was on the Gold Coast with T. E. 
Buckley we frequently met with these birds in small flocks 
along the roads near Cape Coast and Accra; but in February 
and March none of the males had assumed their full breeding 
plumage, and for that reason possibly we did not find out, 
as Gordon informs us, that they were looked upon here by the 
natives as sacred or “ Fetish ”’ birds. 
On the Island of St. Thomas it is very common, according 
to Mr. Francis Newton, and Mr. Boyd Alexander has found it 
on Fernando Po. 
Linneus described the type of his Emberiza principalis from 
Angola, and this name has generally, but wrongly, been given 
precedence over his Hmberiza serena. In the same country 
Mr. Monteiro procured the type of Vidua decora which is now 
in the British Museum. It was described as distinct from 
V. erythrorhyncha, Swainson, on account of its having the chin 
entirely white. 
In Benguela, according to Anchieta, the species is known to 
the natives by several names: at Quillengues as “ Cahengua”’ 
and at Quindumbo as “ Genge”’ and ‘“ Columbaquindionjio.” 
It is certainly abundant throughout this country; but from 
the Cunene River southward to Cape Town it appears to be less 
common than in any other portion of its range, and is here 
somewhat replaced by V. regia, which is the commonest species 
of Vidua in this large area. In other parts of South Africa, 
according to Stark, it largely outnumbers its congeners, and 
in many districts is a very common bird. 
