PLOCE1D.E COLIOPASSER 139 



met with this species in the Eastern Transvaal. It is not recorded 

 from any part of Cape Colony, Great Namaqua or Damara Land. 



Habits. This very beautiful and rare Widow Bird appears to 

 have much the habits of Urobrachya axillaris. It frequents marshy 

 ground on the borders of vleis, where, in summer, the male sits on 

 the summit of a tall stem of grass or reed and shows off his glossy 

 black plumage and yellow shoulder-knot, frequently puffing out the 

 neck feathers into a sort of ruff, like a Bishop Bird, while opening 

 and shutting his wings or occasionally taking a short flight and 

 hovering, like a Vidua, with up-raised wings, over the grass, where 

 doubtless one of his brown wives is concealed. I have never had 

 an opportunity of handling a female of this species, but I have seen 

 the male followed in his flight by ten or a dozen hens, who appeared 

 to be of a very uniform brown colour, and very much smaller than 

 the cock, as is the case with Urobrachya axillaris. The male 

 described had been feeding on grass-seeds and small beetles. 

 Although this species has a wide range in Africa, it appears to be 

 nowhere common. 



~ 



75. Coliopasser procne. Great-tailed Widow Bird. 



( 



Emberiza procne, Bodd. TaU.pl. Enl. p. 39 (1783). 



Chera procne, Gray. Gen. B. ii, 1849, p. 355 ; Sliarpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, 



p. 213 (1890). 

 Chera progne, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 190 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. 



Afr. pp. 458, 849 (1884). 



Coliipasser procne, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 23 (1896). 

 " Isa-Kabuli " of the Zulus ; " Kaffir-Finke " of Colonists. 



Description. Adult male in breeding plumage Entire head, 

 body and tail glossy black ; lesser wing-coverts orange-scarlet ; 

 median- coverts varying from white to buff; remaining coverts and 

 quills black edged with whitish and sandy brown, the outer webs of 

 the primaries white towards their ends ; axillaries, uuder wing- 

 coverts and under surface of quills black. 



Iris brown ; bill light bluish-ash ; feet dusky-brown. 



Length 23'00 ; wing 5-00 ; tail 19-50 ; tarsus 1-15 ; culmen 0-70. 



The lesser wing-coverts vary from orange to scarlet. 



In winter the male resembles the female. 



Adult female. General colour sandy buff streaked with black ; 

 lesser wing-coverts orange-yellow streaked with dark brown; re- 

 maining coverts and secondaries dark brown margined with sandy- 



