FEINGILLID^ EMBEEIZA 185 



chestnut tinged with grey ; back and scapulars chestnut-red ; lower 

 back, rump and upper tail-coverts ash-grey, the latter with white 

 edges; lesser wing-coverts ash-grey, the middle white with black 

 bases, the greater black with white tips are grey edges ; quills black 

 edged with white, the inner secondaries with chestnut ; tail-feathers 

 black with grey margins, the outer four tipped with white, the outer 

 web of the outermost white with a black spot ; a patch on sides of 

 neck and chin white ; rest of under surface yellow, the chest tinged 

 with orange, the sides and thighs grey, the flanks and under tail 

 and wing-coverts, as well as the axillaries and inner margin of quills, 

 white. 



Iris brown : upper mandible black, the lower brown ; feet dusky 

 flesh-colour. 



Emberiza flaviventris. 



Length 6'50 ; wing 3-20 ; tail 2-90 ; tarsus 0-70 ; culmen 0-50. 



Adult male in winter. The feathers of the back edged with 

 fulvous, the streaks on the head and face duller ; the sides of body 

 browner than in summer. 



Adult female. Above, a deeper chestnut than the male, the 

 upper back and scapulars streaked with black. 



Young. Like the female, but with broader streaks above ; below 

 duller in colour ; the light face-streaks buff instead of white. 



Distribution. From Eastern Cape Colony through Natal, Zulu- 

 land and the Orange Free State into the Transvaal, thence westward 

 to Damara Land and Benguela, northward to Nyasaland and 

 German East Africa. In North-east Africa and Abyssinia a race 

 which is smaller, with slightly different markings, occurs, whilst a 

 larger form inhabits Uganda and the Victoria Nyanza Country. 



Habits. These handsomely marked little Buntings are usually 

 met with during autumn and winter in small flocks of ten or a 

 dozen. They are extremely tame and fearless in their habits, like 

 all the South African Buntings I have met with, feed much on the 

 ground in open bush country, but are sometimes found in thickly 



