SPERMESTES 159 
of feathers, increasing in amount on the outer pair, which have nearly the 
whole of the outer web white; sides of head and neck brownish ash, with 
two imperfect white lines above and below the eye; cheeks and throat black, 
with a few white feathers on the chin; crop and flanks brownish ash; 
centre of chest rufous ; abdomen buff; crop, fore-chest and flanks strongly 
barred with black and white; thighs and under tail-coverts rufous buff, 
mottled with black. ‘Iris yellow; bill blackish purple, with the lower one 
rosy red; tarsi and feet brownish.” ‘Total length 3-6 inches, culmen 0:3, 
wing 2:0, tail 1-1, tarsus0°5. g, 19.1. 84; 9, 30.11.83. Redjaf (Emin). 
Vieillot’s Barred-breasted Mannikin ranges from Sene- 
gambia to the Gaboon, and eastward into the Upper White 
Nile district. 
The types of the species and of Amadina lunulata came 
from Senegambia. With regard to its habits, they should 
be very similar to those of the better known O. polyzona, 
which can be hardly regarded as more than a subspecies. 
According to Mr. Nehrkorn the eggs, which are pure white, 
measure 0°52 x 0'4. 
In Liberia Mr. Biittikofer procured a specimen at Mon- 
rovia, and Mr. Boyd Alexander met with it in the Gold Coast 
colony at Bindura. In the British Museum there are 
specimens procured by Forbes at Lokoja on the Niger; by 
Du Chaillu in Gaboon, where he met with the species at 
Cape Lopez and the Camma River ; also three of Emin’s from 
Redjaf on the Upper White Nile. In this latter district 
Heuglin found the species in the Bongo country and along 
the Gazelle River during the summer, but it was scarce and 
generally seen in pairs. 
Genus VII. SPERMESTES. 
Bill smooth, fairly long and stout; deeper than broad, culmen rounded 
and slightly curved, ending on the forehead in a right angle ; nostrils hidden 
by the frontal feathers. Wing rounded; primaries 1 small, narrow and 
sharply pointed ; 2, 3, 4 and 5 about equal and the longest. Tail short and 
rounded, reaching just beyond the outstretched feet. Tarsi and feet 
moderately stout; claws rather long and slender. 
