264 LAGONOSTICTA RHODOPSIS 
Lagonosticta rhodopsis. 
Kstrelda rhodopsis, Heugl. J. f. O. 1863, p. 166 Gazelle R. 
Lagonosticta rhodopsis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 279. 
Type. ‘Entirely dull dusky ash; paler underneath, middle of abdomen 
and under tail-coverts whiter; eyebrows, lores, cheeks and chin washed with 
rosy ; tail rather graduated, above black, below smoky brown; rump and 
upper tail-coverts crimson, brown towards the base of the outer margin ; 
bill blackish, washed with rose, with a white spot at the angle of the mouth; 
feet dusky, the soles ashy; iris brown. Total length 3:8, bill from forehead 
scarcely 0:4, wing 1:85, tail 1-6, tarsus 0°6. 3, Gazelle River ’’ (Heuglin). 
Heuglin’s Dusky Fire-finch inhabits the Gazelle River. 
It is known to me by the description of the types only, 
these are a male and female discovered by Heuglin at the 
Gazelle River. He met with the species always in pairs fre- 
quenting the rushes and bushes in marshy places, and remarks 
that they feed on seeds, and are both shy and active. 
Heuglin’s typical specimens are probably, as Dr. Reichenow 
suggests (“ Vég. Afr.” i. p. 198), immature birds of ZL. brun- 
neiceps. 
Genus XV. PYTHLIA. 
Bill conical, much compressed at the sides of the end half; nostrils 
rounded and covered by the frontal feathers; base of bill ends in a right 
angle on the forehead. Wings rounded, primaries 1 small, narrow and 
sharply pointed, not reaching to the end of the primary-coverts ; 2 equal in 
length to 6, and, with the end portion compressed at the sides and pointed, 
as in Lagonosticta ; 3, 4 and 5 nearly equal and the longest. Tail shorter 
than the wing and slightly rounded. Tarsi and feet moderate ; claws rather 
short and curved. Plumage, with the upper tail-coverts and portion of the 
tail, red; sexes dissimilar in colouring. 
Type. 
Pytelia, Swains. Class. B. ii. p. 280 (1837). . . . . BP. phenicoptera. 
Zonogastris, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 172 (1851) . . . DP. phenicoptera. 
Marquetia, Reichenb. Singy. p. 48 (1863) . . . . . P.melba. 
The genus is confined to Tropical and South Africa, and comprises what 
I consider to be six good species, and four less distinct forms; these latter 
I treat as subspecies. 
