260 LAGONOSTICTA RENDALLI 
when I approached to look at the young, one of the parents 
fluttered about within a yard of me.” 
The type of L. somaliensis was obtained by Prince Ruspoli 
in Somaliland, and Dr. Reichenow proposed the name L. brun- 
neiceps ruberrima for birds from the northern portion of the 
Victoria Nyanza district, which would include Mr. Jackson’s 
specimens from the Athi River, Kangao and Ntebbe, and Dr. 
Ansorge’s from Uganda and Unyoro. Fischer records the 
species as abundant from the Tana River to Bagamoio, and 
Béhm, as plentiful in small parties along the banks of the 
Kingani River, also at Taboro and Kakoma. It has been 
recorded from Langenburg and Mtiras, close to the Rovuma 
River (Filleborn), which is the most southern range known to 
me for this species. 
Lagonosticta rendalli. 
Lagonosticta senegala rendalli, Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1898, p. 72 Shiré 
Valley. 
Lagonosticta brunneiceps (non Sharpe), Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 277 
(1890 pt.) Specimens a tog; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 430 (1896 pt.), 
S.; Reichen. Vog. Afr. iii. p. 196 (1904 pt.) S. Africa. 
Adult male. Similar to L. brunneiceps, from which it differs in being 
browner and less shaded with red; rarely any trace of red on the hind neck 
or mantle ; under parts rather pale, with the brownish buff of the abdomen 
extending distinctly on to the chest, the red wash on the under parts being 
more restricted to the throat and front of the chest. Total length 3-6 inches, 
culmen 0°35, wing 1°9, tail 1:5, tarsus 0°45. Type, 9, 9. 5.95. Upper Shiré 
R. (Rendall). 
Adult female. Like the female of ZL. senegala. Wing 1:9. ?, 4. 8. 95. 
Upper Shiré (Rendall). 
Rendall’s Fire-finch replaces L. brunneiceps in South Africa, 
south from Benguela and the Shiré River. 
These Fire-finches are represented in the British Museum 
by a full plumaged male obtained by Sala at the Katumbella 
