NESOCHARIS 175 
The Nana Mannikin inhabits Madagascar and the small 
island of Mayotte. 
According to M. Grandidier, they are to be met with in all 
plantations and cultivated ground in flocks of from twenty to 
forty individuals. They are constantly on the move, climbing 
along the stems of the corn or flitting from one tuft of grass 
to another, disappearing quickly when alarmed. The nest is 
woven out of the stems of grass and lined with softer grass. 
They lay three or four eggs in a nest, which are described by 
M. Grandidier as pale green, with some brown spots towards 
the thick end; this, I think, must be a mistake, and that Mr. 
Nehrkorn is right in describing them as pure white, measuring 
0:56 X 0:4. They are known by the numerous tribes of natives 
in Madagascar by some eight different names, several of which 
have been suggested by the sprightly habits of these little birds. 
Genus VIII. NESOCHARIS. 
Bill small and comparatively slender, deeper than broad ; culmen slightly 
curved ; nostrils hidden by the frontal plumes. Wing rounded ; primaries 
3, 4 and 5 longest and about equal; 2 and 7 equal; 1 very small, narrow 
and sharply pointed. Tail entirely black, short, rounded, and not extending 
beyond the outstretched feet. Tarsi, feet and claws as in Spermestes. Back 
as well as the upper tail-coverts olive yellow ; neck, breast and under tail- 
coverts leaden grey. 
Type. 
Nesocharis, Alexander, Bull. B. O. C. xiii. p. 48 (1903) . . WN. shellyi. 
The genus is represented by a single species, which is con- 
fined to the small island Fernando Po. I place it between 
Spermestes and my new genus Chlorestrilda, from both of which 
it differs in its peculiarly small bill. To the former it is most 
nearly allied by its general structure and in its squarer, short, 
and more rounded tail while it resembles the latter in the 
green colouring of the back and the grey breast. 
