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PYROMELANA FRANCISCANA 93 
and after the breeding season these Bishop-birds assemble to 
feed in flocks, at times in company with other Weaver-birds ; 
but I much doubt their being migratory, as Heuglin suggests ; 
for, according to his notes, they arrive in North-east Africa 
in June and July, where he met with them in Takah, Senaar, 
Kordofan, and Nubia, to as far north as 22° N. lat., and found 
them very plentiful in the lowlands of Abyssinia up to 7,000 
feet. He also mentions them as leaving their winter quar- 
ters in the Upper White Nile district between October and 
December. 
Mr. Hawker met with them in flocks at Fashoda in April. 
At about the same time of the year Mr. Witherby found them, 
all in winter plumage, assembled in a considerable flock near 
the river within a few miles of Khartoum. The Hon. N. C. 
Rothschild and Mr. Wollaston write: ‘“ This bird frequents 
the fields of millet or ‘dhurru,’ on the seeds of which it 
feeds; it is not common at Shendi, but a good many indi- 
viduals were seen a few miles south, while at Wad-Habushi, 
about fifty miles south, it was exceedingly abundant.” 
According to the notes kindly forwarded to me by Mr. 
A. L. Butler, “This bird is universally known to Europeans 
in the Soudan as the ‘Dhurra bird,’ and is very abundant 
at Khartoum and Dongola. The nuptial plumage, out here, 
lasts from August to January. I met with them in the 
brown plumage at Gedaref in June, and on my return to 
the Soudan from Kawa, September 17, 1902, most of the 
males were in full plumage, though a few were still in 
transition. The red plumage disappeared in January, having 
previously lost much of its brightness. I found a pair 
breeding in a thick Sont-tree near Khartoum, October 20, 
but the tree was so thorny that I could not reach the nest. 
The males in the breeding season are a most beautiful sight, 
dozens of them collecting together on a small patch of green 
