PLOCEID.E HYPHANTORNIS 63 



with dusky ; lesser wing-coverts like the back ; rest of wing-coverts 

 and quills dusky edged with yellow ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 olive ; tail-feathers olive-brown, edged with yellow ; crown pale 

 brown, tinged with yellow ; eyebrow and feathers below eye 

 yellowish ; ear-coverts yellow-brown ; throat and breast buff- 

 yellow ; rest of under surface whitish. 



Length 4'80 ; wing 2-60 ; tail 1-75 ; tarsus O85 ; culmen 0-60. 



Distribution. From Swaziland northward to the Zambesi, 

 westward to Damara Land. Eustenburg, Transvaal (Ayres). 



Habits. Unrecorded. 



28. Hyphantornis subaureus. Yellow Weaver Bird. 



Ploceus subaureus, Smith, Proc. 8. Afr. Inst. 1832 ; id. III. Zool. 8. 



Afr. Birds, pi. 30, fig. 1 (1841) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1887, p. 25. 

 Hyphantornis subaureus, Gray, Gen. B. ii, p. 350 (1849) ; Sharpe. ed. 



Layard's B. 8. Afr. p. 438 (1884) ; id. Cat, B. M. xiii, p. 445 (1890). 

 Xanthophilus subaureus, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 39 (1896). 



Description. Adult male. Above, crown golden-yellow fading 

 into yellow tinged with olive on the back, wing-coverts and rump ; 

 some feathers of the back with brown centres ; wing quills olive- 

 brown, broadly margined with yellow and yellow-olive ; tail-feathers 

 yellow tinged with olive-brown ; lores and eyelids dusky, sides of 

 face, ear-coverts, cheeks, and entire under surface of body yellow, 

 tinged with olive on the sides of the chest ; edge of wing, axillaries, 

 under wing-coverts, and under surface of quills bright yellow, the 

 quills with dusky ends. 



Iris reddish ; bill brown ; tarsi and feet flesh-colour. 



Length 6-50 ; wing 3'35 ; tail 2-50 ; tarsus 0-85 ; culmen 0-70. 



Adult female. Resembles the male in plumage, but is less 

 bright, as well as a trifle smaller in size. 



Distribution. From the Kowie River in Eastern Cape Colony 

 through the Coast districts of Pondo Land, Natal, and Zululand, 

 into Portuguese East Africa, Swaziland, and the Eastern Transvaal, 

 Algoa Bay (Smith) ; Lady smith, Natal (Reid) ; Transvaal (Ayres). 



Habits. These brilliantly-coloured Weaver Birds are very 

 abundant among the thick reed-beds that fringe the estuaries of 

 many rivers in Natal and Zululand, being in many localities by 

 far the commonest species. Like the majority of the Ploceina, 

 they are sociable in their habits and breed in colonies among the 

 reeds, many nests being often built within a comparatively small 



