86 PLOCEID^] SPOROPIPES 



Genus VIII. SPOROPIPES. 



Type. 

 Sporopipes, Cabanis, Arch. f. Naturg. viii, p. 332 



(1847) S. squamifrons. 



Bill short, conical and pointed, the culmen gently curved to the 

 tip and prolonged posteriorly to a point among the frontal feathers ; 

 nostrils entirely concealed by plumes. Wings moderately long and 

 rounded ; the first primary short, the second slightly shorter than 

 the third and fourth, which are equal and longest. Tail shorter 

 than the wing and square at the end. Tarsi short and rather 

 slender, scutellated anteriorly, the sides covered by longitudinal 

 plates which meet in a ridge posteriorly. Toes rather short and 

 weak, the hinder, outer and inner equal in length, the middle 

 slightly longer ; claws slender, curved and pointed. Plumage : the 

 feathers of forehead and front crown " scale-like," with black 

 centres and white margins. 



Two small African Weaver Birds are included in this genus, one 

 ranging over the district between the Orange River and the Zambesi 

 and Cunene Rivers, and extending into the south of Benguela, the 

 other from West to North-east Africa. 



Sporopipes squamifrons. 



44. Sporopipes squamifrons. Scaly -feathered Weaver Bird. 



Estrelda squamifrons, Smith, Eep. Exped. Cent. Afr. p. 49 (1836); 



Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 199 (1867). 



Amadina squamifrons, Smith, III. Zool. S. Afr. Birds, pi. 95 (1844). 

 Sporopipes squamifrons, Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 61 (1871) ; Gurney 



in Andersson's B. Damara Land, p. 177 (1872) ; Bocage, Orn. 



Angola, p. 321 (1877-81) ; Sharpe, ed Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 451, 



848 (1884) ; id. Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 407 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 



33 (1896). 



Description. Adult male in breeding plumage. Above: forehead 

 and crown black, each feather with a white margin and black 

 centre, those of the occiput brown with pale brown margins ; sides 

 of head and face, entire upper surface of body, scapulars and lesser 



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