PLOCEID^E SITAGRA 67 



Description. Adult male in breeding plumage. Crown, back 

 and sides of neck and face, ear-coverts, cheeks and under surface of 

 body yellow, with a golden tinge on the forehead, face, cheeks and 

 breast ; a streak through the eye and the throat black ; upper sur- 

 face of body, wing-coverts and outer web of quills olive-yellow ; 

 inner web of quills brown ; tail-feathers olive-brown, edged with 

 yellowish ; edge of wing, axillaries and under wing-coverts yellow, 

 the coverts streaked with brown ; quills below dusky. 



Iris light brown ; bill black ; feet brown. 



Length 6-50 ; wing 3-20 ; tail 2-65 ; tarsus 0-90 ; culmen 0-80. 



Adult female. Differs from the male in having the throat of a 

 deep orange-colour. 



Length 6-00; wing 3-00; tail 2-50. 



Young male. Resembles the female but is somewhat greener ; 

 the eye streak dusky; forehead, eyebrow, sides of face and lower 

 surface of body bright yellow. 



Distribution. From the neighbourhood of Grahamstown in 

 Eastern Cape Colony, eastward through Natal, Zululand, the Eastern 

 Transvaal and Portuguese East Africa to the Zambesi. To the 

 north of that river this species ranges through Nyasaland and 

 German East Africa into the Upper Congo districts and Equatorial 

 Africa. 



Habits. In the forest districts of the Eastern Colony this beau- 

 tiful Weaver Bird is a not uncommon resident. In Natal and 

 Zululand it is numerous but is almost invariably in single pairs, and 

 is somewhat shy in its habits. Most frequently it is met with in 

 the more open " Bush " or on the wooded banks of streams ; occa- 

 sionally it frequents shrubberies and gardens. It feeds to a limited 

 extent on seeds and small berries, especially those of the wild date 

 palm, but the bulk of its. food consists of insects, particularly of 

 wood-bugs and small beetles that frequent the bark and leaves of 

 trees. Sometimes this bird may be seen scraping among the fallen 

 leaves under a bush in its search for insects. The alarm note is 

 harsh and several times repeated, the ordinary call a rather rapid 

 chattering cry. Of all the South African Weaver Birds this species 

 constructs the most beautiful and highly finished nest. Shaped 

 like a retort, with the entrance from below through a long narrow 

 neck, it is suspended from the extremity of a drooping branch, 

 usually, but not invariably, over water. It is closely and strongly 

 woven with fine pliable fibres, generally strips from leaves of the 

 wild date, and although it resembles nests of Sycobrotus bicolor in 



