UROBRACHYA MECHOWI 69 
Type of U. quanze. Very similar in colouring to U. traversti, with 
the lesser wing-coverts slightly yellower; remainder of wing-coverts uniform 
pale cinnamon, with the exception of a portion of the innermost greater 
wing-coverts black; but is a larger bird with a distinctly stronger bill. 
Total length 6:5 inches, culmen 0°8, wing 3°8, tail 2:5, tarsus 1:1. Barraca 
(Pemberton). 
Mechow’s Fan-tailed Whydah ranges from the Quanza 
River eastward to Karungwesi, and northward possibly to 
Uganda. 
In Angola Major v. Mechow discovered the species, and 
procured several specimens at Malandje in December, January 
and February. A little further south Mr. Monteiro obtained 
a male in breeding plumage at Colombo on the Quanza River, 
November, 1868, which is in the British Museum. Along 
this river, at Barraca, Mr. Pemberton collected two males in 
full plumage in May, one of which is the type of U. phenicea 
quanze, Hartert. To this species undoubtedly belong three 
specimens, in winter plumage, sent to the British Museum by 
Sir Alfred Sharpe from Karungwesi close to the Kolongatsi 
River, which runs westward into Lake Meru. 
Its possible occurrence in Uganda rests on one of Dr. 
Stuhlmann’s specimens from Mengo referred to U. affinis, Cab. 
U. bocaget, one of the best marked species of this genus, is 
known from Mossamedes and Benguela only, and may be said 
to be represented by the present form, an almost equally well- 
marked species to the north of the latitude of the Quanza 
River. The large size and colouring of the wings shows that 
U. traversti is the northern representative of U. mechowi, from 
which the former differs in the smaller size of the bill, much 
in the same way as U. awillaris and U. phenicea differ from 
U. zanzibarica. 
