58.2 My. G. L. Bates on the 



(a discrepancy possibly accounted for by the more worn 

 condition of the plumage in the type) ; and the bill black, 

 instead of pale grey, as in the type. The measurements are 

 also a trifle greater : — bill 17, wing 79 mm. 



The male (No. 3017), undoubtedly the mate of No. 3016 

 — they were in company when shot, and both had enlarged 

 breeding-organs, — is a bird of exactly the same size as the 

 female, and is similarly coloured except on the head. It 

 has the forehead and crown golden-yellow instead of black, 

 and the middle of the throat is black, like the rest of the 

 plumage. 



The male of this species is here described for the first time. 



Ploceus nigricollis. [Ngas.] 



Bates, Ibis, 1909, p. 43. 



Nests of the Ngas have been found, with eggs or nestlings, 

 in eight different months of the year, and in all four seasons ; 

 but the greatest numbers were observed in August and 

 September at the beginning of the principal rainy season, 

 and somewhat smaller numbers in March at the beginning 

 of the "little" rainy season. Insect food is probably most 

 abundant in the rainy seasons. During the last two and a 

 half years spent at Bitye, thirty Ngas's nests have been 

 brought to me with the sitting birds, usually caught at niglit 

 in the nest, but sometimes shot with bow and arrow in the 

 nest. Some nests contained nestlings, others broken eggs; 

 but I have saved twenty-nine eggs as specimens. Only one 

 clutch contained more than two eggs. 



These nests all shew certain characteristics distinguishing 

 them from those of other Weavers. They are a little smaller 

 than those of Ploceus amcmrocephalus and have well-formed 

 entrance-tubes, usually extending from two to five inches 

 below the bottom of the nest. They are always composed 

 of the slender, tough, dry runners of the Convolvulacese, 

 which grow abundantly in Ukutok, and sometimes have 

 grass interwoven. One nest was attached to a twig which 

 had a wreath like the beginning of another nest higher up, 

 as if the bird had begun to build there, and then left that 



