50 COLLUSPASSER MACROURUS 
Fringilla flavoptera, Vieill. Ois. Chant. p. 69, pl. 41 (1805). 
Fringilla chrysoptera, Vieill. Enc. Méth. iii. p. 964 (1823). 
Vidua chrysonotus, Swains. B. W. Afr. i. p. 178 (1887). 
Male in breeding plumage. Velvety black, with the mantle, lesser wing- 
coverts, edges of pinion and bend of the wing bright canary-yellow; some 
incomplete brownish buff margins to many of the wing-feathers; under 
wing-coverts sandy buff. ‘Iris brown; bill bluish black, with the cutting 
edges and tip of the lower mandible buff; tarsi and feet dark brown.” 
Total length 7-6 inches, culmen 0:55, wing 3-2, tail 4, tarsus 0-99. 
3, 26.5.01. Pong (Boyd Alexander). 
Adult female. Upper parts mottled dark brown, with broad pale edges 
to the feathers, very slightly shaded with yellow on the lesser wing-coverts ; 
under surface of wings brown, with pale edges to the coverts and inner webs 
of the quills; a pale buff eyebrow; sides of head light brown, less mottled 
than the crown; under parts buff, slightly shaded with brown on the crop 
and flanks. ‘Iris brown; upper mandible horny brown; lower mandible 
and legs paler.” Total length 5:3 inches, wing 2°6, tail 2-1, tarsus 0°8. 
2? , Lokoja (Forbes). 
Immature male. Similar in plumage to the female. ¢g , Shonga, (Forbes). 
Adult male in winter plumage. Very similar to the female, but differs 
in the wings being blacker and the lesser coverts bright yellow. 3, 9. 2. 72. 
Accra (Shelley). 
The Yellow-mantled Whydah ranges southward from Sene- 
gambia, the Niam-Niam country, Uganda and the mouth 
of the Tana River to Angola and the Zambesi River. 
Many naturalists have collected specimens at the Gambia, 
but according to Dr. Rendall the species is not common there. 
Verreaux obtained it from Casamanse, Beaudouin from Bissao. 
In the Bissagos Islands Fea has collected a large series on 
Bulama. At Sierra Leone it has been met with by Dr. Clarke, 
Demery found it at the Sulemah River, Mr. Biittikofer calls - 
it tolerably common in Liberia, and Fraser obtained it at 
Cape Palmas. It is, in fact, common throughout its range 
in West Africa to as far south as Angola, frequenting the 
marshes. In February and March, when I was on the Gold 
Coast, they were all in the brown winter dress, but as the 
rainy season sets in the males assume their black plumage, 
