PLOCEID^l LAGONOSTICTA 95 



Length 3-30; wing 1-90; tail 1'40; tarsus 0-50; culmen 0-40. 



Distribution. From the south of Natal northward through 

 Zululand and the Transvaal to the Zambesi Kiver, thence to 

 Abyssinia, Central Africa and Senegambia. Bare in Damara Land, 

 according to Andersson. 



Habits. These little Waxbills are somewhat common in the 

 Transvaal between Potchefstroom and the Limpopo Eiver, in small 

 flocks, or perhaps more often in single pairs. They feed on the 

 ground, almost exclusively on grass-seeds, keep close together when 

 feeding, and are gentle and affectionate in their manners. While 

 hopping about on the ground they constantly repeat a soft twittering 

 note, which is changed to a sharper call when they take flight. 

 Like many of the South African small birds they breed very 

 irregularly, in the Transvaal both in summer and winter. A nest 

 taken towards the beginning of June was placed on the ground in 

 the centre of a tuft of grass. It was domed, with a small side 

 entrance, and was loosely woven from coarse dry grass lined with 

 feathers. It contained three white eggs averaging 0'56 x 0-45. 



o 50. Lagonosticta niveoguttata. Peter's Buddy Waxbill. 



Spermospiza guttata (nee Vieill.} Bianconi, spec. Zool. Mosamb. pt. 



xviii, p. 326 (1867). 



Spermophaga niveiguttata, Peters, Jour. f. Orn., 1868, p. 133. 

 Hypargus niveiguttatus, Shelley, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 588, pi. 52, fig. 2 ; 



id. B. Afr. i, p. 32 (1896) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 477 



(1884). 



Lagonosticta niveiguttata, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 274 (1890). 

 Spermophaga nigro-guttata (lapsu), W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1899, p. 111. 

 Lagonosticta niveo-guttata, W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1899, p. 285. 



Description. Adult male. Crown ash-brown ; nape brown 

 tinged with crimson ; black and wing-coverts chocolate-brown ; 

 quills dusky, externally chocolate-brown ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts crimson ; two centre tail-feathers dusky tinged with 

 crimson, the others black, the outer webs tinged with crimson; 

 lores, eyebrow, sides of face and neck, throat and upper breast 

 deep crimson; rest of lower surface black; the under tail-coverts 

 tinged with crimson, the sides dotted with numerous round spots 

 of white ; edge of wing dusky ; under wing-coverts white. 



Iris blue-black ; bare skin of lids turquoise-colour (Francis) ; 

 bill bluish ; legs and feet lead-grey. 





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