LAGONOSTICTA 245 
In the Tring Museum there is a full plumaged male, shot by 
Mr. C. H. Pemberton at Sagua, on the Quanza River, and Dr. 
W. L. Sclater has obtained a specimen at the Victoria Falls 
of the Zambesi. 
Genus XIV. LAGONOSTICTA. 
Bill conical, deeper than broad at the nostrils; basal half very slightly 
swollen, the sides being almost straight; nostrils rounded and covered 
by the frontal feathers. Wings rounded; primaries 1 narrow and pointed, 
shorter than the culmen; 2 with the end third very narrow, the inner 
web of this portion being generally distinctly cut away as in Pytelia; 4 
and 5 longest; 2 shorter than 6. ‘Tail fan-shape, with the feathers broad. 
Tarsi and feet moderate. Plumage, with the upper tail-coverts and portion 
of tail, red; some red on the breast, at least in adult males, and generally 
with small white spots on the chest; sexes usually differ somewhat in 
plumage. 
Type. 
Lagonosticta, Cab. Mus. i. p.171 (1851) . . . . . JZ. rubricata. 
Rhodopyga, Heugl. J. f.O0.1868,p.18. . . . . . UL. rhodopsis. 
Lichnidospiza, Heugl. Orn. N. O. Afr. App. p. exxxvil. 
(1871). ee nc Nee te He hs LL. melanogastra. 
The genus is confined to Tropical and South Africa, and according to my 
key comprises thirteen species; but ZL. rhodopsis is known apparently by 
immature birds only, which, as Dr. Reichenow suggests, are probably young 
of L. brunneiceps. 
I have separated the southern representative of DL. brunneiceps, L. 
rendalli ; these and L. senegala form a closely allied group, each with a very 
well-defined range, so I should hesitate to call them subspecies. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES. 
a. Under tail-coverts black. 
a1, Entire head and neck slaty grey like the mantle . . cinereovinacea. 
b1. Some red on the head or neck. 
a?, Entire keel of lower mandible blackish. 
a®. Basal half of lower mandible (with the excep- 
tion of the keel) pale. 
a*. A broad jet black band down the centre of 
Chesiiawe meen Mita e nd ci. tk MRCLUNOgastTa 4G. ad. 
2 { 
a a 
