PYTELIA MELBA 275 
“locally distributed, the male sex predominating. In Sep- 
tember the young were abroad. On one occasion, September 8, 
we observed a pair of birds feeding four young ones perched 
in a row on a branch, and they were by no means shy, 
allowing of a close approach. The adults had then commenced 
to moult and were not in good plumage again till the middle 
of January. In the males the colouration of the plumage 
varies considerably in intensity. The scarlet of the rump and 
tail is very conspicuous in flight.” 
In the Shiré district, according to Mr. Percival, it is rare 
and always found in pairs; an adult male he procured here 
at Ruo River, in February, 1899, and now in the British 
Museum, has traces of bars on the under tail-coverts as well 
developed as in at least one specimen of P. soudanensis. Mr. 
Whyte obtained a single specimen in Nyasaland at Tshiroma. 
The only specimen from Hast Africa, in the British 
Museum, is the type of P. kirki, which differs far more than 
P. soudanensis does from the typical P. melba ; but Dr. 
Reichenow refers to P. melba all the specimens from Cape 
Delgado (Cardosa), Malangali (Marwitz), Kionga (Stuhlmann), 
Kakoma and Karema (Bohm), Dar-es-Salaam (Buxton), 
Kibiro, Nyanglu and Ugogo (Emin), Usegua, Massa, Neuruka, 
Pare, Kagehi and Lamu (Fischer), Ndi (Hildebrandt), Lamu 
(Kirk), Manda’ Island, Kibwesi and Njemps (Jackson), 
Makindos (Ansorge), Kwa _ Kissero and Kwa _ Kitoto 
(Neumann). 
When I described P. kirki, I expected that it would prove 
to be the Hast African representative of P. melba, between 
Lake Nyassa and the Equator. 
It is, however, still known to me only by the type, and two 
specimens from Southern Ukamba. Regarding the latter, 
Mr. Jackson writes: ‘Nos. 72, 73, ¢ ad. Kibwesi, April 10, 
1892. Iris hazel, with crimson tint; bill bright red; feet 
