220 Dr. P. Reiidall on the 



of the cocoauut-palra, &c. I have seen as many as twenty 

 nests on a single leaf. 



Hypiiantornis melanockpiiala. 



This bird, which more frequently is to be seen than any 

 other member of this family, prefers the lower branches of 

 the mimosa, common in tlie marshy ground between the 

 mangrove-swamps ; and though it also builds in colonies, I 

 have seldom seen more than two nests on a single tree ; they 

 were usually about six or seven feet above the ground-level. 

 Their eggs, which present every variation in colour between 

 olive-green and russet-brown, are seldom in clutches of more 

 thaii two, though once or twice I have taken three from a 

 nest. 



Hyphantornis luteola. 

 Rare on the Gambia. 



Hyphantornis personata. 



quelea .ethiopica. 



Lives well in confinement. 1 kept several of them from 

 time to time in a large flight-cage. 



PyROMEL/ENA FLAMMICEPS. 

 PVROMEL.liNA AFRA. 



Pyromel.«:na franciscana. 



Builds a woven-grass nest and lays two or three eggs, of 

 a deeper blue than those of our Hedge-Sparrow. The nest 

 has the hole in the side, and is built in a tall weed of the 

 pea family, almost invariably. The males lose their red 

 feathers so gradually that all stages intermediate with the 

 females are to be seen in August. 



Vidua principalis. 



Notwithstanding the length of the tail-eovert feathers, I 

 successfully kept these birds caged for some time. I noticed 

 that the males, after some time, moulted their black feathers 

 so as to appear like the females. 



Vidua pauadisba. 



