254 LAGONOSTICTA RUBKRICATA 
Lagonosticta rubricata. 
Fringilla rubricata, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 27 (1823) Caffraria. 
Lagonosticta rubricata, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 281 (1890); Shelley, 
B. Afr. I. No. 420 (1896); Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 513 Zulu ; Short- 
ridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 177 Pondoland ; Reichen. Vog. Afr. iii. p. 199 
(1904). 
Le Sénégali rouge, Vieill. Ois. Chant. p. 29, pl. 9 (1805). 
Adult male. Front of forehead crimson; no crimson shade on the 
crown, back and sides of neck, which are brownish ash, shading into clear 
brown on the mantle and wings; lower back and upper tail-coverts crimson ; 
tail black, washed with crimson on the edges of the feathers, most strongly 
so towards their base ; under wing-coverts and inner edges of quill whitish, 
shaded with rufous brown at the bend of the wing. Front half of sides of 
head, chin, front of neck, fore-chest and flanks crimson, with a few white 
spots on the sides of the chest; sides of head shading gradually into 
brownish ash on the nape and sides of neck ; lower breast, thighs and under 
tail-coverts black, fading into dusky ash toward the lower chest. “Iris 
brown; bill bluish black; under mandible lilac at the base; tarsi and feet 
bluish ash” (Barratt). Total length 4:1 inches, culmen 0°45, wing 2:0, tail 
18, tarsus 0°55. g, 2.7.75. Pinetown (‘T. L. Ayres). 
Adult female. Upper parts as in the male ; less red on the sides of head, 
throat and breast; lower breast brownish buff, with the vent and under tail- 
coverts only dusky black. Wing1'8. 9?,9.12.74. Macama (Barratt). 
Young. Similar to the adults in the colouring of the back, wings and 
tail; but with the remainder of the upper parts, as well as the sides of the 
head and neck, of the same brown as the mantle; under parts entirely pale 
tawny brown. g, 18.10.95. Essex Vale (Selous). 
The Cape Fire-finch ranges over Hastern South Africa from 
Cape Colony into Nyasaland. 
The most western range known for the species is Hastern 
Cape Colony, where it is fairly common. I found it tolerably 
abundant about Pinetown, and Mr. 'l’. L. Ayres collected a fine 
series from that place and Durban. In Zululand the Messrs. 
Woodward met with it at the Black Umfolosi River. In the 
British Museum there are specimens from Grahamstown, 
Eland’s Post, Pretoria, Macomac, Matabele, and Zomba in 
Nyasaland. In the Lydenburg district, according to Mr. '. 
