LAGONOSTICTA RUFOPICTA 263 
Adult female. Differs only in having no trace of red on the wings, and 
a less amount of white markings on the breast. Wing 1°85. 9, August. 
Abo (Forbes). 
The Bar-breasted Fire-finch ranges from Senegambia to the 
Niger and Upper White Nile districts. 
Marche and De Compitgne procured the species at Daranka 
in Senegambia, and Bulger on Bulama Island. In the British 
Museum there are two specimens collected by the late Dr. 
Clark at Sierra Leone, eight from Fantee and inland, including 
the type, two from the Volta River, and three from the Niger. 
T. EH. Buckley and I found the species to be extremely 
abundant during the spring of the year, near Cape Coast, 
generally in small flocks feeding along the paths which intersect 
the thick bush. Ussher met with it along the Volta River, and 
Mr. Baumann at Sebbe in Togoland. W. A. Forbes obtained 
specimens at Abuchi and Abo on the Niger, and I do not find 
any mention of the species from further south in West Africa ; 
but it ranges eastward to the Bongo and Wau countries of the 
White Nile district, where Heuglin procured the type of his 
L. laterita, and records it from the Djur and Kosango Rivers, 
along the banks of which streams he met with a few during 
the rainy season. 
Regarding its habits, Ussher writes: “This pretty little 
Bengali is one of the commonest birds on the West Coast of 
Africa. It is extremely tame, frequenting the vicinity of 
houses, and hopping about the yards with the confidence 
of the common House Sparrow in England. They build in 
low grass, on the seeds of which they also feed, and are 
gregarious; in the bush they will associate in flocks with 
other Bengali.” 
According to Mr. Kuschel the eggs are pure white and 
measure 0°56 x 0°44, 
