SPERMESTES SCUTATUS 178 
by the natives ‘ Saughan.” He procured three birds, a nest 
and eggs. The latter are described as ‘ white, and measuring 
055 x 042; the nest is, like those of many of the genus, 
entirely composed of the almost ripe stalks of grass, with the 
seeds still on them, and is a domed structure.” 
Speke obtained specimens in the Uniamwesi country to the 
south of Victoria Nyanza, and Bohm found them common at 
Kakoma and Zanzibar, with a number of eggs and young birds, 
from the middle of April to the end of May. Fischer met with 
them generally distributed from Bagamoio to the Tana River. 
Sir John Kirk obtained specimens at Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar 
and Pangani; these are in the British Museum, where there 
are others from Mombasa, Teita, Southern Abyssinia and Shoa. 
In the Ukamba country, at Kibwezi, Mr. Jackson shot a 
specimen, and writes: “‘ This species is very plentiful through- 
out the country in the vicinity of habitations. At Kibwezi it 
was breeding in March. The nest, which is roughly made of 
dry grass and lined with feathers, is generally placed on a 
table-topped mimosa or other thorn-tree, some ten to twenty- 
five feet from the ground. In several cases I have seen the 
nest within a few inches of a hanging wasps’ nest ; and although 
I am not certain on the point, [am inclined to think that the 
birds began building after the wasps had begun their nest, and 
that they chose to place their nest in such close proximity to 
the wasps for the sake of protection against the intrusion of 
snakes, lizards, mice and other enemies.”’ 
It is interesting to find in this same collection two specimens 
of S. cucullatus from the Kavirondo district, some 250 miles 
to the north-west, so that the range of these species meet 
to the north-east of Victoria Nyanza, for the type of the 
present species was discovered by Heuglin in the Dembea 
district of Central Abyssinia to the north of Lake Tana, which 
is the most northern range known for the species. 
