COLIUSPASSER ALBONOTATUS 47 
Adult male. Uniform jet black excepting the wings ; lesser wing-coverts 
and edges of bend of wing bright pale yellow; median coverts with buffy 
brown edges; most of the greater coverts with a considerable portion 
white, decreasing in extent towards the scapulars, which are uniform black ; 
quills with the basal portion white like the under-coverts ; the latter slightly 
tinted with rufous buff; remainder of quills uniform black or with a few 
narrow pale outer edges to the secondaries. ‘‘ Iris hazel; bill pale bluish 
violet ; legs black” (F. Oates). Total length 7 inches, culmen 0:5, wing 2:9, 
tail 3:4, tarsus 0°8. ¢g, 20.12.77. Weenen (W. Arnold). 
Adult female. Upper parts mottled, brownish black with broad pale 
brown edges to the feathers, no white on the wing, which is blackish brown 
with pale brown edges to the feathers, and the lesser coverts mostly yellow ; 
under wing-coverts sandy buff, rather darker along the bend of the wing; a 
broad eyebrow and the under parts generally brownish buff, inclining to 
white towards the chin and centre of the breast. Iris, bill and legs brown. 
Adult male in winter plumage. Very similar to the female, but the 
lesser wing-coverts brighter yellow, and with the same amount of white 
on the wing as in their breeding plumage ; dark parts of the primaries black. 
g,July. Durban (1. L. Ayres). 
The Natal White-winged Whydah ranges from Natal into 
Ugogo. 
The type of the species came from Natal, which is the 
most western range known for the species. According to 
Stark, “This very beautiful and rare Widow-bird appears to 
have much the habits of the Urobrachya avillaris. It frequents 
marshy ground on the borders of rivers, where in summer the 
male sits on the summit of a tall stem of grass or reed and 
shows off his glossy black plumage and yellow shoulder-knot, 
frequently puffing out the neck feathers into a sort of ruff, 
like the Bishop-bird, while opening and shutting his wings, 
or occasionally taking a short flight and hovering, like a Vidua, 
with upraised wings, over the grass, where doubtless one of 
his brown wives is concealed.” In the British Museum there 
are specimens from Umbilo near Durban, Weenen, the Ivuna 
River in Zululand, one of Wahlberg’s from the Transvaal, 
another of Barratt’s from the Winterberg district, one of 
