292 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



ruff; the forehead, the face (including the eye and ear-coverts) and 

 the front of the throat black ; the chest and abdomen black ; upper 

 wing-coverts fiery cinnabar red, quills brown, with blackish centres ; 

 thighs, axillaries and under wing-coverts yellowish brown, quills below 

 pale brown, with paler inner web. Length 4-ft inches. Beak black 

 with browner cutting edges ; legs brown ; iris dark uniber brown. 



Female tawny brown with black shaft-streaks, narrower on the 

 head : wing and tail feathers dark brown, with pale tawny edges ; a 

 distinct yellowish eyebrow streak ; under parts paler than the upper, 

 with narrow-black streaks, broadest on the sides and flanks, centre of 

 body below yellowish : quills below dusky with yellowish inner web. 

 Length 4-,'t, inches. Beak reddish horn-brown, the lower mandible 

 paler; legs brown; iris ashy brown. 



The male in winter plumage nearly resembles the female, but is 

 slightly larger and darker in tone. 



In Sharpe's edition of Layard are the following interesting notes 

 on this species : 



" The ' Red Caffre Fink,' though not an uncommon bird, is 

 certainly a very local one; that is, though distributed over the whole 

 colony, it seems to be confined to narrow limits. About Cape Town, I 

 only know of one place where it is to be found, and that is the swampy 

 ground near the Royal Observatory. It breeds in September among 

 the reeds growing in the river, supporting its nest on three or four 

 stems, like its congener P. capensis. In the winter time it congregates 

 in flocks, and does much damage to the grain fields in the neigh- 

 bourhood of its nesting-place, but never strays away from that locality. 

 Nest like that of P. capensis. Eggs four or five, pure light blue ; 

 axis 10" ; diam. 7". Builds in thousands about the swamps and river 

 running out of Zoetendals Vley, also in the Boschjeveldt between 

 Swellendam and Robertson (W. Atmore), but is not found about 

 Grahamstown, according to Dr. Atherstone." 



" Mr. Ayres has found it in Natal, where he only saw it on the 

 reedy banks of rivers near the coast, while Mr. Woodward- observes, 

 that in that colony he found it only in the up-country districts, where 

 it assembles in small flocks, suspending its nest, which is formed of 

 grass of a very fine texture, from the flags along the river. Mr. T. 

 B. Buckley met with it in the Drakensberg, and also in the Transvaal, 

 where Mr. Ayres has also found them breeding in large companies, in 

 many reedy vleys and pools, and, also, in great abundance in the 

 swamps ; they assemble in immense flocks, both in winter and summer, 

 but, during the latter season, the flocks appear to consist almost 



