222 i\Tr. W. L. Selater on BlriL- coUecfed 



female but asliy grey below; a few brigbt yellow feathers 

 are begiuning to appear; another example shews small black 

 feathers on tlie throat pushing up through the pale yellow, 

 while the yellow-edged black feathers on the back which 

 form the "spotted back '^ of the adult are beginning to 

 appear. One killed on August 31st is in full breeding 

 phimagc. Young birds of both sexes have only the throat 

 ])ale yellow, the rest of the under parts dull white. I cannot 

 distinguish the females of H. nigriceps and H. spllonohts 

 with certainty, exce})t that the lower mandible of the former 

 appears to be a good deal paler. 



[" Umdwesa '" of Zulus. 



The Spotted-backed Weaver was noted from Zululand, 

 the North-Eastern Transvaal, and the Inhambane district 

 of Portuguese East Africa. It is usually seen throughout 

 the year in flocks, often of considerable numbers, which 

 frequent cultivated lands. It is a noisy bird, keeping up a 

 continual chatter or uttering a rasping sort of "song". 

 It was ])recding in numbers at Woodbush, fixing the 

 nest at the tip of an overhanging branch of a tree usually 

 over water, often in quite inaccessible situations ; unfor- 

 tunately none of the nests that I was able to reach contained 

 eggs. 



The soft parts are : — 



(^ . Irides rich orange-red ; bill black ; legs and toes horn- 

 brown. 



? . Irides yellow ; bill, legs and toes horn-coloured.] 



Hyphantornis tahatali. 



Hi/phantoniis sheHeyi Sharpe, Stark & Selater, Bds. S. Afr. 

 i. p. ti2. 



Ploceus auricapillus Sw., Iveichenow, Vitg. Afr. iii. p. 79. 



Tv. Klein Letaba, Aug., Sept. (4) ; P. Tete, Sept. (1). 



The type of Ploceus tahatali, renamed and figured sub- 

 sequently by Sir Andrew Smith in the ' Illustrations of the 

 Zoology of South Africa,^ Aves, pi. 103, is preserved in the 

 British Museum ; it was procured in winter at Kurrichane, 

 and is without dovibt the same as the bird commonly known 

 as H. shelleyi. 



