FRINGILLID^ SEKINUS 169 



others in the richness and fulness of their notes. The cock of this 

 species has, in confinement, been known to pair with the hen of 

 both the Common Cage Canary and the Yellow-bellied Seed-eater. 



In Cape Colony the Cape Canary usually breeds in September 

 and October, in Upper Natal in October and November. The nest, 

 neatly constructed and cup-shaped, is built in a thick low bush, of 

 dry grass and bents, with sometimes a little moss, lined with hair, 

 feathers, and downy seeds. The eggs, three or four in number, are 

 white, faintly tinged with blue, and streaked and spotted at the 

 obtuse end with purplish-brown and reddish-brown. They measure 

 0-75 x 0-55. 





89. Serinus sulphuratus. Large, Yellod Seed-eater. 



Loxia sulphurata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 305 (1766). 



Crithagra sulphurata, Sivains. Zool. Journ. iii, p, 348 (1828) ; Layard, 



B. S. Africa, p. 218 (1867) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 486 



(1884). 

 Serinus sulphuratus, Sliarpe, Cat. B. M. xii, p. 352 (1887) ; Butler, 



Foreign Finches, p. 29, pi. (1894) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 21 (1896). 



" Geel Saysie " of Dutch Colonists. 



Description. Adult male. Above, greenish-yellow streaked with 

 blackish ; rump and upper tail-coverts yellower and unstreaked ; 

 lesser wing-coverts unstreaked greenish-yellow ; remaining wing- 

 feathers an^ tail-feathers blackish edged with yellow ; lores dusky ; 

 a broad eyebrow golden-yellow ; crown and back of neck greenish- 

 yellow streaked with blackish ; feathers round the eye, ear-coverts 

 and cheeks dull greenish ; a broad band under the ear-coverts and 

 a spot at base of lower mandible golden-yellow ; throat golden- 

 yellow ; sides of neck, breast, sides and flanks pale greenish-yellow ; 

 rest of under surface, also the axillaries and under wing-coverts 

 yellow ; under surface of quills dusky with grey inner edges. 



Iris hazel-brown ; upper mandible dusky yellow ; the lower pale 

 yellow ; legs and feet dusky brown. 



Length 6*00 ; wing 3-25 ; tail 2-55 ; tarsus O75 ; culmen 0-55. 



Adult female. Slightly smaller and duller in colour ; the yellow 

 streak on the face smaller and less bright. 



Length 5'75 ; wing 3'05 ; tail 2-50. 



Distribution. Throughout Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, 

 and the greater part of Natal, extending into the Transvaal and 

 thence northward to Masai Land in East Africa. In Cape Colony 



3> <=P ' 



