114 PLOCEID.E PHILETJ3RUS 



wing-coverts and inner secondaries like the back, the others 

 browner, the middle with pale ends ; primary-coverts and quills 

 blackish, the coverts edged with chestnut, the outer webs of the 

 quills dotted with white ; tail black ; crown, nape, sides of face 

 and neck, cheeks, throat and upper chest black ; lower breast, 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; sides and flanks black, 

 spotted and barred with white ; thighs externally black ; axillaries 

 and under wing-coverts white; edge of wing mottled black and 

 white. 



Iris brown ; bill bluish ; legs and feet black. 



Length 3-50; wing 1-85 ; tail 1-20; tarsus 0-50 ; culmen 0-35. 



Adult female. Eesembles the male. 



Distribution. On the east coast of Africa from Zanzibar to 

 Natal (Durban in August) ; North Nyasaland, June (Whyte). 



Habits. Like those of S. scutatus. 



Genus VI. PHILET^ERUS. 



Type. 

 Philetairus, Smith, Charlesworth' s Mag. 1837, p. 536 P. socius. 



Bill of moderate length, conical and pointed, somewhat deep 

 at the base, the sides compressed, the culmen slightly arched from 

 the base, the lateral margins sinuated. Nostrils exposed and free 

 from nasal plumes ; wings moderate, reaching to about the middle 



Philetcerus socius. 



of the tail ; the first quill very short ; the second, third and fourth 

 nearly equal and longest. Tail shorter than the wing and slightly 

 rounded. Tarsi strong, scutellated anteriorly. Toes moderate, 

 the outer and inner equal. Claws much curved and sharp. 



The genus Philet&rw includes four species of African Weaver 

 Finches, including the well-known South African Social Weaver 

 Finch, the wonderful collective nest of which, sometimes containing 



