306 TWO CENTENARIES AND A QUARTER 



toe and claw ^. This is the JMallmbus cristatus of Vieillot, 

 who has mistaken the next species for the female: both sexes 

 are in the Paris Museum. The first quill is nearly half as 

 long as the second : the black colour is inclined to brown : 

 the front and lores are black ; which colour spreads round the 

 eye, and forms a line at the base of the under mandible, and 

 the tip of the chin : claws fully curved. 



78. Ploceus ruhricollis. 



Black : crown of the head, and upper part of the 

 neck, crimson. Ois. Chant, pi. 43. 



M. Vieillot describes this as the female of the above, and 

 refers to a specimen in his own collection : the sizes, we may 

 therefore presume, are the same, yet I have never seen this. 



79. Ploceus niger. 



Entirely sooty black : wings and tail tinged with 



brown. The first quill nearly half as long as the second. 

 Inhabits Western Africa ? Paris Mus. {fig. 56. a) 

 Size of P. cristatus. Bill, from the gape ^-^^ inch; ditto, 



front \l; tail, beyond, 1^; wings 3-,^; tarsus fg ; hind toe 



and claw -^. Bill black : legs pale brown. 



80. Ploceus aurantius. 



Orange yellow, deepest and brightest on the head : 

 back olive green : wing feathers blackish brown, mar- 

 gined with yellow, [fig. 55.d) 



Inhabits Western Africa. Paris Mus. 



Total length 5i inches; bill, from the gape^; ditto, front 

 1; wings, 3 ; tail beyond, 1\; tarsus, 13 ; hind toe and claw 

 12. Claws fully curved : second quill shorter than the third. 

 First spurious lores black: tail light dusky brown; rump 

 obscure orange yellow. Malbnbus aurantius, Vieil. Ois. Ch. 

 pi. 44. {The fig. n6. c, is P. icterocephalus ; see Vol. I. p. 189.) 



81. Ploceus personatus. 



Large. Above, olive green ; beneath, yellow : front, 

 eyes, chin, and base of the ears enveloped in a black 

 hood, which descends in a narrow line on the throat. 

 Bill thick, arched above : tail rounded. 



Inhabits ? Paris Mus. {fig. 5Q. e) 



Total length about 6\ inches ; bill, from the gape -^g ; ditto, 

 front ^^g; wings 3i; tail, beyond, 1^; tarsus ^g ; hind toe and 



