UR-EGINTHUS ANGOLENSIS 183 
Adults. Similar in plumage to the female of U. bengalus. ‘Iris red; 
bill purple ; legs brown” (T. E. Buckley). Total length 5:1 inches, culmen 
0:4, wing 2:1, tail 2-5, tarsus 0°55. ¢,19.3.78. Wenen (W. Lucas). 
U. bengalus damarensis is said to differ from U. angolensis in being paler 
(Reichenow). 
The Angola Cordon-bleu ranges southward from Angola 
and Nyasaland into Natal, but is absent from Namaqualand 
and Cape Colony. 
Dr. Reichenow separates the birds from German South- 
west Africa as a pale subspecies, for which he proposes the 
name U. bengalus damarensis, and refers to this form Anders- 
son’s specimens from Ondonga and Elephant Vley, and Mr. 
Fleck’s from Lake Ngami and the Okavango River. The hot, 
dry climate of this part of Africa has the effect of bleaching 
the plumage of most birds living there, whether they belong to 
resident forms or to migratory species, and it appears to me 
questionable if the paler Damara specimens deserve to be 
separated subspecifically. 
To U. angolensis Dr. Reichenow refers the specimens 
collected by Schiitt at Malandje in Angola, in which country 
also occurs U. bengalus. The present species has been obtained 
by Anchieta at Biballa in Mossamedes, where it is known to 
the natives as the ‘ Kanexe,” and to the colonists as the 
** Peito-celesto.”’ 
From Damaraland Andersson writes: ‘I have heard occa- 
sionally of immense gatherings of these birds; but usually 
they are found in small flocks seeking on the ground for 
their food, which consists almost entirely of the seeds of 
grass. On February 2, 1867, I found in Ondonga a nest of 
this species in a palm bush about six feet from the ground; 
it was constructed of grass, and had no internal lining; 
the eggs were five in number.” The eggs are, according to 
Stark, pure white, rather rounded, and measuring on the 
average 0:70 x 0°55. 
