194 



BLACK-BELLIED BENGAL Y. 



Estrelda melanogaster, SWAINS. 



I 



Delicate cinereous ; belly and tail, black ; lower part of the 

 back, rump and upper tail-covers, dark crimson ; lower tail- 

 covers black. 



THIS delicate and very rare species seems to be en- 

 tirely undescribed ; the only specimen, indeed, we 

 have even seen, is one in our museum supposed to 

 have come from this part of Africa ; a supposition 

 highly probahle, from its near resemblance to the 

 species next described. 



The Black-bellied Bengaly is one of the very least 

 of its species, measuring only two inches and a 

 quarter from the base of the tail to the tip of the 

 bill. The tail, however, which is long, makes the 

 bird appear larger, so that its total length is rather 

 more than four inches. The general colour of the 

 whole plumage is nearly of a uniform cinereous, 

 without any mixture of brown, and scarcely paler on 

 the throat and breast; on the under part of the 

 body, however, this colour gradually changes into 

 deep black, which spreads over the belly, vent, 

 under tail-covers, and to the tail itself; when this 

 black begins on the under plumage, deep red com- 

 mences on the upper, which extends to the su- 



