198 ESTRILDA MINOR 
On St. Helena I shot the type of EH. sancte-helenz, 
January 4, 1874. This was the commonest species of wild 
bird I saw there. It is imported to Europe in such numbers 
from this island that it and its allied forms are known, to 
dealers in cage-birds, as the St. Helena Waxbill. According 
to Mr. Melliss: “It builds its nest in high trees, generally 
preferring the Scotch fir and Botany Bay willow (Acacia longi- 
folio), and consequently suffer much by high winds blowing 
the nests down. The nest is spherical in form, about seven 
inches in diameter, with an almost closed tubular entrance 
on one side, and is generally built of grass and feathers, lined 
with cotton-wool.” It is very remarkable how varied are the 
breeding habits of some of these closely allied forms. 
Estrilda minor. 
Habropyga minor, Cab. J. f. O. 1878, p. 229 Voi R. 
Estrilda minor, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 393 (1890) pt. Melinda, 
Pangani, Ugogo. 
Estrilda astrild minor, Reichen. Vég. Afr. iii. p. 180 (1904) pt. B. Africa. 
Very similar to Z. astrild in all its plumages, differing only in the cheeks, 
chin and upper throat being purer white. Wing 1:9 inches. Melinda 
(Kirk). 
The Lesser Common Waxbill ranges from the Zambesi 
River into Equatorial Africa. 
The most southern known range for the species is the 
Zambesi River; here, as Mr. Boyd Alexander has proved, is 
the junction of its ranges with that of Z. astrild, its southern 
representative. In the Shiré Valley it is, according to Mr. 
Percival, very common. Mr. Whyte has procured specimens 
at Zomba, also on the Milanji Plain, at 4,000 feet; and 
according to General Manning, who obtained it on Mount 
Moloza, it is known to the natives as the “Chijojola.” Sir 
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