190 ESTRILDA 
tinguish from those of many of the other small Weavers.” The 
nests found by Heuglin were artistic, loose structures of dry 
grass, placed in bushes at four to eight feet from the ground, 
and contained three to six eggs. He found the species ranging 
to as far north as the Takah district, and in the mountains up 
to 7,000 feet. Dr. Blanford writes: ‘Common on the high- 
lands, less so at a lower elevation, but seen not infrequently in 
the Anseba Valley, and even as low as Ailet (1,200 feet above 
the sea).” 
Hartmann met with a large flock of these birds on the Blue 
Nile, and according to Ragazzi it is common in Shoa. To 
the east, specimens have been collected by Lord Lovat at Lake 
Harrar Meyer and Laga Harding, by Mr. Harrison at Tadecha- 
mulka, and according to Mr. Pease it is widely distributed 
over this district. 
Its occurrence in Central Somaliland is known to me by the 
two specimens collected by Dr. Donaldson Smith at Luku and 
Sheik Husein. 
Regarding a species from Kibwesi, near the northern base 
of Mount Kilimanjaro, Mr. Jackson writes: “This pretty 
little bird is found everywhere in the country. Its nest is 
made of dry grass, and is found in various positions, such as in 
a low bush, in a mimosa or acacia tree, thirty feet from the 
ground, in the thatch of a native hut, or in the deserted nest 
of the common Yellow Weaver-bird.” 
Genus XI. HSTRILDA. 
Very similar in structure to Ureginthus, with the second primary shorter 
than the fifth, but differs in the tail not being longer than the wing, and in 
the upper tail-coverts never being blue, but always red, unless there is 
a crimson band through the eye in adults. Sexes generally alike in plumage. 
Type. 
Estrilda, Swains. Zool. Journ. iii. p. 349 (1827) . . . #. astrild. 
Habropyga, Cab. Arch. f. Naturgesch. xiii. p. 331 (1847). Z. astrild. 
Neisna, Bp. Consp. i. p. 460 (1850) . , .,. . . . H. subflava. 
