COLIUSPASSER 29 
at Duem, September 30, and numerous males, with long tails, 
at Jebel Ain, November 15, and at Kawa on the following 
day. At this date a few of the males had shed one or two of 
the long tail-feathers. I also saw males still with their long 
tails on January 2 and 3, at Fatasha Wells, twenty miles 
west of Omdurman. I have seen males in full plumage from 
Western Kordofan, collected by Captain H. N. Dunn in 
October. They seem here to begin to change into the nuptial 
plumage in June, have acquired the long-tailed feathers by 
August or September, and retain them till December or 
January.” 
From Abyssinia came the types of Vidua verreauwi, Stega- 
nura sphenura and Vidua paradisea orientalis. 
In this district, according to Heuglin, it is generally distri- 
buted and very common to as far north as Bogosland, but 
does not range further north than 17° N. lat., nor ascend the 
highlands above 7,000 feet. He met with them moulting out 
of the breeding plumage in October, and in large flocks in the 
autumn. 
In the British Museum there are several specimens from 
Ailet and Koomaylei, including a male shot by General Sturt in 
March, which is in full breeding plumage. 
The egg is grey, so very closely spotted with black that the 
pale ground-colour is scarcely visible, and measures 0°8 x 0°56. 
Genus III. COLIUSPASSER. 
This genus is distinguished from all the other Ploceide by the males 
assuming, for the breeding season, an elongated graduated tail of very 
flexible feathers. It resembles Urobrachya (its nearest ally) and Pyromelana 
in acquiring, by a spring moult, a frill of rather broad lengthened feathers on 
the sides and back of the neck. In its other characters, such as the short, 
narrow and sharply pointed first primary, coupled with the mottled brown 
plumage of the adult male in winter, it shows its close affinities with the 
Viduine only. 
