PLOCEUS SUBAUREUS. 



the length of the second. Tail rather long, and its apex slightly rounded, 

 legs and toes robust, the tarsi in front distinctly scutellated, behind entire ; 

 claws strong and slightly curved. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Inches, Lines. 

 Length from the point of the hill to 



the tip of the tail 6 10 



of the bill from the angle of 



the month 8 



of the wings when folded... 3 5 



ofthetail 2 9 



The colours of the /e»tc//e are not quite so bright as those of the male. 



The head-quarters of this species and of Ploceus ocularius must be looked for to the north- 

 ward of the Tropic of Capricorn ; at least the paucity of specimens to the southward of it would 

 warrant such an inference. During a residence of fourteen years in South Africa, I only 

 met with four specimens of the last named species and ten of the present, and even a part of 

 these were contained in the numerous collection, which during that period were submitted to 

 my inspection. The specimens of P. subaureus, which I myself procured, were all killed in 

 the neighbourhood of Algoa Bay, and those which were contained in the collections alluded to 

 were either got in the same locality or more to the eastward. 



A closely allied bird is found on the western coast of North Africa, and will require to be 

 considered as of the same species if the opinion of Temminck* be founded upon facts. That 

 learned ornithologist, when speaking of the differences in size between what he calls L'Aigle 

 oceanique {Falco leucogaster, Lath) and Le Blagre, Levaillant, observes that he has noticed 

 as great differences in that respect in other species. " The birds of prey of Senegal and the 

 whole coast of Guinea," he remarks, "are one-third smaller than the same species which 

 inhabit the middle of Africa, while all the birds of the genera Lanius, 3Ierops, Premerops, and 

 the greater number of the GalUnacea' of the eastern coasts of Africa are larger and their 

 plumage of purer colours and more brilliant than the same species in the more steiile parts of 

 the middle of the continent." 



As our e.xperience does not incline us to such opinions, we shall continue to regard the Sierra 

 Leone bird {Ploceus aureoflavus, nobis) ^ as distinct, • until more detailed evidence be 

 adduced to show that climate and food are productive of such modifications. 



■"■ Planches culores, Plate 49. Text. 



t Ploceus aureo-^anus. Head, throat, and breast saffron- yellow ; belly, vent, and under tail coverts 

 light chrome-yellow ; back of neck, interscapulars, back, shoulders, tertiary quill feathers, and tail, inter- 

 mediate between sulphur and honey-yellow. Primary and secondary quill feathers yellowish brown, 

 and margined externally with pure yellow. Bill horn-coloured. Legs and claws flesh-coloured. Length 

 from point of bill to tip of tail .55 inches ; wings when folded, 3 in. 2 lin . ; tail, 2 in. Inhabits Westeni 

 Africa. 



