98 PLOCEID^ ESTEILDA 



ft 1 . Bump and upper tail-coverts crimson. 



a?. Sides of face and ear-coverts black ............ E. erythronota, p. 100 



6 2 . Sides of face and ear-coverts grey ............ E. incana, p. 101. 



c 1 . Eump and upper tail-coverts blue. 



c 2 . Sides of face blue ; throat and breast blue... E. angolensis, p. 102. 

 d 2 . Sides of face lilac ; throat and breast chest- 



nut brown ............................................. E . granatina, $ ,p.!04. 



e 2 . Sides of face lilac ; throat whitish ; breast 



tawny buff ............................................. E. granatina, ? , p. 104. 



b. Wing longer than the tail. 



d v . Throat orange-yellow .............................. E. subflava, p. 105. 



e l . Throat black .......................................... E. dufresnii, <?,p. 107. 



/ l . Throat grey ............................................. E. dufresnii, ? , p. 107. 



52. Estrilda astrilda'. Common Waxlill. 



Loxia astrild, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 303 (1766). 



Estrelda astrild, Swains. Zool. Journ. iii, p. 349 (1827) ; Layard, B. 8. 



Afr. p. 196 (1867) ; Gurney in Andersson's B. Damara Land, p. 178 



(1872) ; Holub and Von Pelz. Beitr. Orn. Siidafr. p. 126, fig. (1882) ; 



Sharpe, ed. Layard 's B. S. Afr. pp. 470, 849 (1884) ; Shelley, B. Afr. 



i, p. 29 (1896). 

 Estrilda astrilda, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 391 (1890) ; Butler, 



Foreign Finches, p. 142, pi. (1894). 



" Koodebec " (Red-bill) and " Eooibeckie " of Dutch Colonists. 

 " St. Helena Waxbill" and " St. Helena Pheasant " of Dealers. 



Description. Adult male. Above, brown finely barred with 

 cross-lines of dusky ; rump and upper tail-coverts tinged with red ; 

 tail-feathers dark brown, their edges paler, their bases tinged with 

 red, the centre feathers obscurely barred ; scapulars, lesser and 

 middle wing-coverts like the back ; the primary coverts and 

 secondaries more coarsely barred with darker brown ; primaries 

 uniform brown ; crown barred like the back ; a streak of crimson 

 through the eye ; ear-coverts light grey ; cheeks and throat light 

 grey tinged with pink ; vent and under tail-coverts black ; rest of 

 under surface very light grey tinged with pink, most deeply on the 

 centre of lower breast and abdomen, and closely barred throughout 

 with narrow lines of brown ; axillaries and under wing-coverts buff 

 very finely barred with brown ; under surface of quills dusky, the 

 inner webs grey. 



Iris brown ; bill red ; legs and feet brown. 



Length 4-75; wing 2-00; tail 2-15; tarsus 0-60 ; culmen O35. 



