BRONZE-HOODED BENGALY. 



Spermestes cucttllata, SWAINS. 



Above testaceous brown ; beneath white ; head, throat, 

 shoulder- covers, and sides of the body glossy dark brown, 

 bronzed with purplish ; flanks, rump, and upper tail-covers 

 whitish banded with brown. 



THIS diminutive songster is perhaps the smallest of 

 its race, for it only measures three inches and a 

 quarter in extreme length. It seems to be altoge- 

 ther new, and as we have seen but two specimens, 

 is probably a rare bird. It is also interesting, as 

 showing the characters of a connecting type between 

 the shorter footed division last exemplified and that 

 more peculiar to India, where the feet are very 

 large. Our present species certainly belongs to this 

 latter group, for the hind-toe and claw, as in 

 Euplectes, is as long as the tarsus, and the upper 

 mandible is higher, and therefore thicker than the 

 under. This great-footed division, in short, has the 

 feet of Euplectes, with the short, thick, and remark- 

 ably broad bill of Amadina ; and having separated 

 these groups as distinct types, we have no other 

 alternative than to name this ; although we are 

 more inclined to consider Estrelda as a sub-genus 



