176 FBINGILLID^ SEBINUS 



lay three or four eggs of a very faint bluish- white, sometimes plain, 

 more often sparingly marked at the large end with one or two 

 spots or hair-like streaks of deep purplish-black. They average- 

 0-80 x 0-60. 



Both the male and female sit very closely on their eggs, and 

 defend their nest valiantly against aggressors. On almost every 

 occasion on which I have inspected a nest of this bird I have had 

 my fingers pecked for my pains, and with their powerful bills they 

 can inflict a severe bite. On one occasion I saw a pair of these 

 Finches attack a large snake with great courage and success. 



The young are fed on insects and macerated seeds from the 

 crops of the old birds. They remain in the nest for a little more 

 than a month. 



95. Serinus crocopygius. Damara Yellow -rumped Seed-eater. 



Poliospiza crocopygius, Sliarpe, Ibis, 1871, p. 101 ; Gurney, in 

 Anderssoris B. Damara Land, p. 184 (1872) ; Sharpe, ed. Layards 

 B. 3. Afr. p. 483 (1884). 



Serinus crocopygius, Sharps, Cat. B. M. xii, p. 360, pi. 8 (1888) ; 

 Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 22 (1896). 



Description. Adult male. Above, light brown streaked with 

 darker brown ; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts yellow, 

 the latter streaked with olive ; lesser wing-coverts like the back ; 

 rest of wing and tail-feather dusky brown edged with paler brown, 

 the greater coverts tipped with white ; crown like the back ; eye- 

 brow, line below eye, line across cheeks, spot at base of under 

 mandible and throat white ; ear-coverts pale brown ; breast, sides 

 and flanks, light brown ; rest of under surface white ; axillaries 

 and under wing-coverts yellowish-brown. 



Iris brown ; bill horn-brown ; legs and feet slate-grey. 



Length 6-00 ; wing 3-40 ; tail 2-30 ; tarsus 0-80 ; culmen 0-55. 



Adult female. Eesembles the male but is smaller, and has 

 the under wing-coverts white. 



Length 6'00 ; wing 3-20 ; tail 2-30 ; tarsus 0-80 ; culmen O55. 



Distribution. Great Namaqua Land, Damara Land and 

 Benguela. 



Habits. Andersson writes: "This species is sparingly met 

 with in Damara and Great Namaqua Land ; it is generally seen 

 about rocks in the immediate neighbourhood of water, to which 



