58 PLOCE1DJ] HYPHANTORNIS 



Iris yellowish-white ; bill black ; tarsi and feet brown. 



Length 5-90 ; wing 2-80 ; tail 1-90 ; tarsus 0-85 ; culmen 0'65. 



Adult female. Above olive-yellow, the back streaked with 

 dusky ; tail-feathers olive-brown margined all round with olive- 

 yellow ; sides of face and neck and under surface of body pale 

 yellow; axillaries, under wing-coverts and inner margin of quills 

 yellow. 



Iris reddish-hazel ; bill, tarsi and feet pinkish. 



Length 4-75; wing 2-70; tail 1-75 ; tarsus 0-75 ; culmen 0-60. 



Young male. Eesembles the adult female in plumage, but the 

 crown and back are brighter yellow ; the lower surface of body 

 yellow, tinged with orange on the chest. 



Distribution. From Natal northward through Zululand, the 

 Eastern Transvaal and Portuguese East Africa to Lamu on the east 

 coast ; westward through Mashona and Matabili Land to the 

 Lake N'Gami district and Damara Land. In the latter country 

 Andersson found this species at Omaruru and on the Swakop Eiver. 



Habits. Like those of H. velatus. Gates found insects in the 

 stomach of one he examined. Messrs. Woodward met with this 

 species breeding in Zululand, and describe the eggs as being white. 



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. 25. Hyphantornis velatus. Masked Weaver Bird. 



A** 



Ploceus velatus, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxxiv, p. 132 (1819). 

 Ploceus tahatali, Smith, Eep. Exp. Cent. Afr. p. 50 (1836). 

 Ploceus mariquensis, Smith, III. Zool. 8. Afr. pi. 103 (1845). 

 Hyphantornis mariquensis, Gray, Gen. B. ii, p. 351 (1849) ; Gurney, 



Ibis, 1868, p. 466, pi. 10 ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 182 (1867) ; Ayres, 



Ibis, 1871, p. 254; 1873, p. 284; 1877, p. 345; 1880, p. 105; 1884, 



p. 229. 



Hyphantornis capitalis, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 180 (1867). 

 Hyphantornis auricapillus, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 183 (1867). 

 Hyphantornis velatus, Gurney in Andersson's B. Damara Land, p. 



169 (1872) ; Sliarpe, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. pp. 439, 847 (1884) ; id. 



Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 464 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 39 (1896). 



Description. Adult male in breeding plumage. Forehead, lores, 

 eyebrow, ear-coverts, sides of face, cheeks and throat black ; crown, 

 nape, sides of neck and under surface of body bright yellow, with a 

 shade of golden on the crown, neck and breast ; back olive-yellow 

 obscurely streaked with brown ; scapulars olive-yellow streaked 

 with black ; rump and upper tail-coverts yellow ; wings brown, the 



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