SPERMESTES BICOLOR 163 
Spermestes punctatus, Heugl. Orn. N. O. Afr. p. 594 note (1870) W. 
Africa; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 262 (1890); Shelley, B. Afr. I. 
No. 385 (1896). 
Spermestes bicolor punctata, Reichen. Vog. Afr, ili. p. 152 (1904). 
Adult. Entire head, neck and upper parts glossy greenish black, with 
from two to about a dozen tiny white spots on the secondaries, just beyond 
the coverts; under surface of quill dusky black, with pale inner edges fading 
into clear white on the inner quills; axillaries and inner half of the under 
wing-coverts white, the remainder black, with a few terminal white edges ; 
breast and under tail-coverts white, with the sides of chest black, a line of 
black feathers surrounding the white of the chest, having broad, white ter- 
minal edges. ‘Iris brown; bill lavender blue; tarsi and feet black” 
(Kemp). Total length 3:5 inches, culmen 0:4, wing 1:9, tail 1-4, tarsus 0°5. 
Fantee (Ussher). 
Immature. Upper parts and sides of head uniform dusky slate colour ; 
under parts buff, of a dusky shade on the throat and sides of chest; thighs 
dusky blackish. Rabba (Mochler Ferryman). 
Nestling. Uniform carthy brown above; under parts much paler and of 
a more rufous shade on the breast. Abeokuta (Robin). 
The Northern Black-and-white Mannikin ranges from 
Senegambia into Camaroons. 
Verreaux’s collection contained the species from Case- 
manse; Bulger met with it on Bulama Island. From Sierra 
Leone Mr. Kemp writes: “ A common resident at Bo, but 
apparently replaced by S. fringilloides at Rotifunk.” 
In Liberia, according to Dr. Biittikofer, it is abun- 
dant and generally distributed, frequenting human habitations 
even more than S. fringilloides, which it resembles in its 
habits and feeding. It breeds in the plantations and trees 
in the middle of the villages, also in the roofs of houses. 
A nest he found in August at Soforé Place contained six pure 
white eggs, measuring 0°56 x 0-4. At Schieffelinsville they 
were in flocks of about twenty individuals in the plantations. 
Fraser records them as “common in the roofs of the huts 
belonging to the fishermen of Cape Palmas, in which situation 
they breed and commit much mischief, like our Common 
Sparrows. The native name is ‘ Saybue.’” 
