PLOCEID^] PYROMELANA 127 



Length (of female from Tulbagh) 5-30 ; wing 2-75 ; tail 1'90 ; 

 tarsus 0*75 ; culmen O50. 



Adult male in winter. Eesembles the female, but is slightly 

 larger and darker. 



The brilliancy and depth of colour of the plumage of the male 

 in summer increase with age, the chest, neck, and lower back 

 varying from orange to scarlet-vermilion. This species varies 

 greatly in size, specimens from northern localities being very much 

 smaller than those from the neighbourhood of Cape Town and the 

 western part of Cape Colony, but the extremes are connected by a 

 series of intermediate sizes. The small northern race has been 

 named P. sundevalli by Bonaparte. 



Distribution. South Africa and Benguela ; from Cape Town 

 through Cape Colony, Natal, Zululand, and the Orange Free State, 

 ranging through the Transvaal and Portuguese East Africa into 

 Khodesia, and extending as far north as the Zambesi. On the 

 west coast from Great Namaqua Land, through Damara Land, to 

 the Lake Ngami district and Benguela. Throughout its range a 

 somewhat local bird, nearly confined to marshy districts. 



Habits. The Bed Kaffir Fink is seldom found at any great 

 distance from marshy ground or the reed- overgrown borders of vleis 

 or rivers. It appears to be a resident in nearly all the localities in 

 which it occurs, although it may occasionally be driven from a 

 district for a time by drought or want of food. In winter the 

 Bishop Birds collect in flocks sometimes numbering thousands 

 of individuals, and frequently feed in the company of other 

 Weaver Birds and Finches on seeds and grain. At night they roost 

 in extensive reed-beds or among bushes. Few birds surpass in 

 beauty the male of this species in summer, when he has fully 

 assumed his gorgeous breeding dress of scarlet and velvety-black. 

 At this season the cocks may be seen slowly gliding over the reed 

 beds with a curious "hovering" flight, during which the body is 

 kept very erect, the plumage of the lower back puffed out, while 

 that of the neck is erected into a frill, looking, in the blazing 

 sunshine, like flames of fire slowly drifting to and fro. At times 

 they dance about in front of the females with puffed out plumes, 

 turning from side to side as if to show off the full beauty of their 

 plumage. 



In the neighbourhood of Cape Town this Bishop Bird builds its 

 nest in August or September ; in Natal in November or December, 

 and again in March or April. As a rule these birds nest in colonies, 



