436 Messrs. Sclater and Mackwortli-Praed on [Ibis, 



The Abyssinian bird is again slightly less brightly coloured 

 than P. c. feminina ; the brown nape is less conspicuous and 

 the black of the head still more restricted. 



Distribution. Abyssinia north to Sennar and south to Shoa.'j 



Ploceus (Sitagra) badius badius. 



Hyphantoniis badius Cass.; Shelley, B. A. iv. p. 434. 

 [B. coll.] 3 Roseircs July Aug. Sen. ; 1 Khartoum Sept. 

 [C. & L. coll.] 1 Singa Dec, 5 Kamisa Dec. Sen. 

 All the birds in the Chapman & Lynes collection are 

 in non-breeding dress. 



Ploceus (Sitagral badius axillaris. 



Hyj)hanforius axillaris lleuglin, J. f. O. 1867, p. 381 : 

 district of the " Kidj-Neger," i. e. the neighbourhood of 

 Shamb^ on the Bahr el Jebel or upper White Nile. 



Hyphantornis badius (non Cass.); Butler, Ibis, 1908, p. 221. 



[B. coll.] 2 Mongalla, 1 Kenisa, 1 Bor May, Mon. 



There are undoubtedly two races of this species, as was 

 first pointed out by Butler in a letter addressed to Ogilvie- 

 Grant, dated 26 Sept. 1914, as follows :—" In White Nile 

 birds the whole head is black right on to the nape and sides 

 of the neck, whereas in Blue Nile birds the black shades 

 into chestnut on the back of the head, and does not extend 

 further back on the sides of the head than the ear-coverts. 

 The bill of the White Nile birds is much smaller and 

 straighter ; there is a yellow wash on the rump in White 

 Nile birds, which the Blue Nile ones lack, and the White 

 Nile birds have got more chestnut and less yellow on the 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts.^' 



A comparison of the specimens in the Butler collection 

 (there are no others in the British Museum) confirms 

 what Butler has written, and it only remains to settle the 

 nomenclature. 



The oldest name is undoubtedly Hyjjhantornis badius 

 (Cassin, Proc. Philad. Acad. 1850, p. 57: Fazokl, i. e. 

 Fazogli in Sennar), and applies to the Blue Nile bird, 



