PYROMELANA APPROXIMANS 75 
has begun to blacken, and a few black feathers are visible 
round the neck; the breast next shows a change, and a feather 
or two on the back darkens, and thus by degrees the whole 
bird changes to its splendid black. This transformation begins 
about July, and is completed in September, which is the 
nesting season. The moult back again begins in the same 
manner.” 
I have here quoted Layard’s account of the moult, for it 
gives a good idea of what takes place in the change from the 
winter to the summer plumage in all the four closely allied 
species ; but the bird he took his notes from must have been 
a specimen of P. approximans, which is the only one of the 
four in which the lower mandible changes to black for the 
breeding season. 
Pyromelana approximans. 
Orynx approximans, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 177 (1851) Kaffraria (Berlin 
Mus.). 
Euplectes capensis approximans, Reichen. Vog. Afr. iii. p. 127 (1904 pt.) 
Euplectes capensis, var. minor, Grill, Zool. Anteckn. pp. 10, 22 (1858). 
Pyromelana minor, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 238 (1890); Shelley, 
B. Afr. I. No. 335 (1896). 
Euplectes xanthomelas (non Riipp.), Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, 
p: 297 Natal. 
Similar to P. capensis in all its plumages; but differs in being smaller, 
and in full breeding plumage the males have the lower mandible black and 
there is little or no brown on the thighs. Total length 5:9 inches, culmen 
0:55, wing 3:0, tail 2:5, tarsus 0:9. g, 26.10.81. Newcastle (Butler). 
Female. Culmen 0:5, wing 2:7, tail 19, tarsus 075. ?, 14.5. 78. Pine- 
town (T. L. Ayres). 
The Natal Black and Yellow Bishop-bird inhabits Hastern 
South Africa from the Knysna to Inhambane in Mosambique. 
In the British Museum there is a fair series of this species, 
including specimens from the Knysna River (where its range 
