SPERMESTES CUCULLATUS 167 
and by two from Nyasaland, one unlabelled, the other from 
the Nyika Plateau; all these are in the British Museum. 
The type of S. rufidorsalis was met with by Dr. Peters at 
Inhambane, and the type of Amadina punctipenmis came from 
Mozambique. None of these collectors have favoured us with 
any field-notes, and Layard, Stark and Mr. IT. Ayres appa- 
rently never met with it. 
The type came from Zanzibar, and the species is abundant 
from that island to the Equator. Fischer, in his letters from 
Zanzibar, informs us that he found the species in flocks of 
twenty to thirty in the fields, feeding in company with other 
small Weavers, and he once met with it in the town, where 
it is known to the natives as the “'T’ongo kanga,” the word 
*“Tongo”’ being apparently the generic name for all the 
members of this group, and might be translated as “ Man- 
nikin.” He also met with the species at Bagamoio, Pangani, 
Mombas, Lamu and the Tana River. Haildelbrandt and 
Kalkreuth found a nest of this species near Mombasa, in July ; 
it was placed in a bush and constructed of grass. The egg 
is described by Mr. Nehrkorn as being white and measuring 
0°56 X 0°40. 
In the British Museum there is a fine series of specimens 
procured by Lord Delamere at Nairobe, in British Hast Africa, 
in November and April, also one obtained by Mr. Percival, 
from the Kikuyu Forest, in May. 
The type of S. nigriceps minor was obtained by Mr. 
Erlanger in South Somaliland, July 27, 1901, at Fanole, on 
the Lower Juba River. 
Spermestes cucullatus. 
Spermestes cucullatus, Swains. B. W. Afr. i. p. 201 (1837) Senegambia ; 
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 264 (1890); Butler, Foreign Finches in 
Captivity, p. 258, pl. 46, tig. 1 (1894); Shelley, B. Atr. I. No. 381 
(1896); Nehrkorn, Kat. Miers. p. 125 (1899) egg; Hartert, Noy. 
