22 VIDUA REGIA 
half of the wings, lower flanks and the under tail-coverts, black ; remainder 
of plumage, with the exception of the wings and tail, rufous buff; 
primaries and outer secondaries dark brown, with very narrow outer edges 
and broad incomplete white inner edges; under wing-coverts white; four 
short outer pairs of tail-feathers dark brown, with whité terminal patches on 
the inner webs of the outer three pairs. ‘Iris dark hazel; bill, legs and 
claws coral red” (F. Oates). Total length 12-3 inches, culmen 0:35, wing 
2°8, tail 9:8, tarsus 0°65. g, 13. 2.75. Omaruru (Andersson). 
Adult female. Head and neck buff, with a broad dark brown band on 
each side of the crown from the nostrils to the nape, formed by the feathers 
having broad dark brown centres similar to those of the hind neck and 
mantle ; tail short and square, the feathers blackish brown edged with buff, 
and the three outer pairs fade into that colour towards the ends of their 
inner webs ; wings blackish brown, the coverts broadly edged with brownish 
buff, and the quills more narrowly so; under wing-coverts white, under 
surface of quills paler brown than above and with whitish inner margins ; 
throat and sides of body sandy buff, fading into white on the remainder of 
the breast and the under tail-coverts. Total length 4:3 inches; culmen 0°35; 
wing 2°7, tail 1-7, tarsus 0°6. 2, 28.11.66. Ondonga (Andersson). 
Adult male in winter. Similar in plumage to the female. 
Immature. Differs from the adult female in the upper parts being of 
a much more uniform sandy brown; crown uniform brown, and the sides 
of the head and back of neck uniform tawny buff. 
The Southern Shaft-tailed Whydah inhabits Southern 
Africa between 15° S. lat. and 31° S. lat., and westward from 
30° E. long. 
The most northern localities known to me for the species 
are Huilla in Mossamedes and Tati in Matabeleland; the most 
southern, Colesberg in Eastern Cape Colony. This is not an 
unlikely species to have been shipped as a cage-bird to Bissao, 
where Beauduin obtained a specimen, and this may account for 
Vieillot and Bonaparte believing it to be a native of West 
Africa. 
In Mossamedes specimens have been collected by Anchieta 
at Huilla and by Van der Kellen near Humbe in the Upper 
Cunene district. To the south of the Cunene River the species 
is resident and more abundant, especially in German South- 
west Africa. Layard records a specimen shot by Mr. Arnot at 
