90 PLOCEID^] PYTELIA 



Description. Adult male. Forehead scarlet ; crown, nape, sides 

 of face and neck grey ; back, rump and wing-coverts olive-yellow ; 

 upper tail-coverts vermilion ; tail-feathers black, the two central 

 and the outer webs of the others tinged with scarlet ; wing-quills 

 dusky, the outer webs tinged with olive-yellow ; cheeks and throat 

 scarlet-vermilion ; upper breast and sides golden-orange ; remaining 

 under surface thickly barred with brown and white, the tips of the 

 feathers white ; thighs brownish ; under tail-coverts dull white ; 

 under wing-coverts mottled brown and white. 



Iris red-brown ; bill brick red, the culmen and tip dusky ; feet 

 light brown. 



Pytelia melba. 



Length 4-80 ; wing 2-20 ; tail 2-20 ; tarsus 0-45 ; culmen 0-70. 



Adult female. Duller in colour ; forehead, cheeks and throat 

 ash-grey ; no orange on the breast ; abdomen less distinctly barred. 



Length 4-50 ; wing 2-20 ; tail 2-00. 



Young. Resemble the female, but the throat is nearly white and 

 the bill is paler. 



Distribution. On the west from the Orange to the Congo River ; 

 on the east from Natal to the Equator. Ranges throughout the 

 Transvaal and Matabililand and extends across the Zambesi into 

 Nyasaland. 



Habits. Andersson writes : "This Finch is found sparingly in 

 Damara and Great Namaqua Land, and usually occurs in pairs ; 

 its favourite resort is low bush and old abandoned village fences, 

 whence the Damaras call it the ' Kraal bird.' Its food consists of 

 seed and insects." 



Mr. Ayres met with this species near Rustenburg and on the 

 Limpopo River, in pairs among low mimosa bushes. He remarks : 

 " These beautiful little birds affect the dense thorn-bush in prefer- 

 ence to more open places ; they are generally tame and easily got 

 when found ; one scarcely ever finds more than a pair together " 

 (Ibis, 1886). 



