130 PHILETAIRUS SOCIUS 
Philetairus socius. 
Loxia socia, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 381 (1790) Cape. 
Philetairus socius, Reichen. Vog. Afr. iii. p. 242 (1904). 
Philzterus socius, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 249 (1890); Shelley, 
B. Afr. I. No. 374 (1896); Stark, Faun. 8. Afr. B. i. p. 117, pl. nest. 
Philetairus lepidus, Smith in Charlesw. Mag. N. H. i. p. 536 (1837) ; id. 
Ill. Zool. 8. Afr. Av. pl. 8 (1838). 
Adult. Forehead and crown uniform brown; nape, back and sides of 
the neck, and the upper back, brownish black, with narrow buff edges to the 
feathers, giving to these parts a scale-like appearance ; lower back and upper 
tail-coverts paler, with less sharply marked buff edges ; tail black, with the 
two centre feathers, broad ends to the others and the outermost webs of the 
tail brown; wings dark brown, with the edges pale, inclining to buff at the 
end of the median and greater coverts and the outer webs of the secondaries ; 
under wing-coverts, and inner edges of the quills, buffy brown; front of sides 
of head, chin and upper throat, black; ear-coverts brown, paler than the 
crown, and fading into brownish buff on the hinder half of the cheeks, sides 
of upper neck and the under parts generally ; flanks, thighs and under tail- 
coverts darker brown, the latter with buff edges; on each side of the 
abdomen is a large black and buff scale-like patch, formed by the feathers 
having the terminal half black, narrowly edged with buff. ‘Iris dark 
brown ; bill horn-colour; legs and feet light brown” (Stark). Total length 
5 inches, culmen 0°65, wing 3:0, tail 1:7, tarsus 0°75. ¢, Transvaal 
(T. Ayres). 
Immature. Crown mottled with pale edges to the feathers; no black on 
the head and throat. Damara (Andersson). 
The Southern Social-Waxbill inhabits South Africa from 
Damaraland and the Transvaal to the Orange and Vaal Rivers. 
The species is nearly always to be met with in flocks, and 
Andersson found it breeding in Damaraland and Great Nama- 
qualand. According to Mr. Fleck, it is generally distributed 
over those countries, and he also met with it in the Kalahari. 
Its most southern known range is the northern portion of Cape 
Colony, near the Orange River. Stark mentions it as rather 
a common species in Bechuanaland and Griqualand West, and 
by no means rare, though somewhat locally distributed, in the 
Transvaal. 
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