126 PLOCEID^: PYROMELANA 



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67. Pyromelana oryx. Bed Bishop Bird. 



Emberiza orix, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 309 (1766). 



Euplectes oryx, Swains. B. W. Afr. i, 187 (1837); Bocage, Orn. 



Angola, p. 335 (1881) ; Butler, Feilden and Beid, Zool. 1882, p. 297. 

 Ploceus oryx, Gray, Gen. B. ii, p. 352 (1849); Layard, B. S. Afr. 



p. 185 (1867). 

 Euplectes sundevalli, Bp. Consp. i, p. 446 (1850) ; KirTc, Ibis, 1864, p. 



322 ; Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 269 ; 1868, p. 465. 

 Pyromelana oryx, Finsch and Hartl. Vog. Ostdfr. p. 410 (1870) ; 



Gurney in Andersson's B. Damara Land, p. 172 (1872) ; Sharpe, 



ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 462, 849 (1884); id. Cat. B. M. xiii, 



p. 231 (1890) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1886, p. 382 ; Butler, Foreign Finches, 



p. 302, pi. (1894). 



Pyromelana orix, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 25 (1896). 

 " Grenadier" Weaver or Bishop Bird ; " Bed Kaffir Fink." 



Description. Adult male in breeding plumage. Above, the 

 mantle orange tinged with scarlet; forehead and front of crown, 

 sides of face, ear-coverts and upper throat velvety black ; hind 

 crown and neck all round brilliant orange or scarlet-vermilion, 

 dependent upon age ; these feathers can be puffed out into a ruff 

 or frill ; lower back, rump and upper tail- coverts orange or scarlet- 

 vermilion ; wing coverts brilliant orange-red ; quills brown with 

 blackish centres ; tail-feathers dark brown with paler margins ; 

 chest and abdomen velvety black ; thighs buff- brown ; vent and 

 under tail-coverts scarlet ; axillaries and under wing-coverts pale 

 buff, the axillaries tinged with scarlet ; under surface of quills 

 pale brown, with paler inner margins. 



Iris dark brown ; bill black ; feet brown. 



Length (of male from Tulbagh) 6'00 ; wing 3-00 ; tail 2-00 ; 

 tarsus 0-85 ; culmen 0-60. 



Length (of male from Zululand) 4-75 ; wing 2'65 ; tail 1-60 ; 

 tarsus 0-80 ; culmen O50. 



Adult female. Above tawny brown with black shaft streaks, 

 narrower on the crown ; wing and tail-quills brown with pale 

 reddish-brown edges ; eyebrow yellowish ; sides of face, ear-coverts, 

 cheeks and under surface of body dull white, tinged with brown on 

 the sides of face, neck, breast, and flanks, streaked with darker 

 brown on the breast, sides and flanks ; thighs and under wing- 

 coverts tawny buff. 



Iris dark brown ; bill pale brown; feet reddish-brown. 



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