174 SPERMESTES NANA 
It is apparently plentiful in Shoa and has been met with 
to the east by Lord Lovat at Telagubaie, and at Roguecha, in 
February, by Mr. Pease, who writes: “This bird was seen 
flying fast in closely-packed flocks and was not observed 
settling; all the three young birds were shot out of one 
flight.” According to Heuglin, it is generally distributed over 
Abyssinia from April to July, when they are to be met with 
in parties of from four to eight, but often collect in noisy, 
lively swarms in the corn-fields. 
The specimens he procured in the Nile district may possibly 
belong to S. cucullatus, of which the present form can hardly 
be regarded as more than a subspecies. With regard to its 
range, its apparent absence from Somaliland is as difficult to 
explain as its absence from Western South Africa. For its size 
it is naturally a strong bird, with a powerful flight, and has 
more probably naturalised itself in the islands of Great Comoro 
and Johanna than been introduced there by man. 
Spermestes nana. 
Pyrrhula nana, Pucher. Rey. Zool. 1845, p. 52 Madagascar. 
Spermestes nana, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 266 (1890) Madagascar ; 
Sibree, Ibis, 1891, p. 441; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 388 (1896) ; 
Nehrkorn, Cat. Hiers. p. 125 (1899) egg. 
Adult male. Upper parts uniform earthy brown, shaded with grey on 
the forehead, crown and back of neck; upper tail-coverts broadly edged 
with yellowish buff; wing and tail uniform, darker brown than the back ; 
under wing-coverts sandy buff; sides of head grey, shading into buff on the 
sides of the upper throat; in front of eye, chin and upper throat, black ; 
remainder of the under parts buff, with a rosy brown shade; under tail- 
coverts brown, with broad buff edges. ‘Iris reddish brown ; bill black ; 
feet reddish” (Grandidier). Total length 3-5 inches, culmen 0°35, wing 1:8, 
tail 1-4, tarsus 0-5. Madagascar (Bewsher). 
Female. Differs in being browner, with no grey or black on the head 
or throat; chin and throat very pale ashy brown; upper and under tail- 
coverts entirely brown. 9, 15. 3.83, Madagascar (Cowan). 
