314 Notes. 



seen been less tlian 0"4. His description too does not tally well 

 with adults, there being just those kinds of discrepancies, which 

 might be expected, between young or females, and adult males. 



In the present specimen : 



The forehead, chin, and cheeks are silky golden yellow. The 

 back and sides of the head and neck, and interscapular region 

 blackish brown, every feather margined with olive yellow. If 

 the featliers of the neck (but not of the interscapulary region) 

 are lifted, their basal halves will be found to be yellowish white. 

 The wings and scapulars are black, or at any rate so deep and 

 black a brown that most people would call them black, and all 

 the coverts and quills, except the first few primaries, are conspicu- 

 ously though narrowly margined with bright olive-yellow. The 

 tertiaries and longer scapulars, with a conspicuous marginal 

 white stripe on the inner webs. The tail black, the outermost 

 tail feathers (which are narrow, pointed, and 0"8 shorter than the 

 next pair) broadly tipped with white or greyish white, and with 

 a streak of the same running up the shaft. The next pair 

 (which are about 0'3 shorter than the rest of the tail,) similar, 

 except that the white tipping is confined to the inner web. Cen- 

 tral portion of middle and lower back and rump, bright orange 

 yellow; the basal portions of the feathers paler and many of them 

 with a dusky streak or spot. Sides, rump, and upper tail coverts 

 black, some of the longest of the latter margined with j^ellow- 

 ish white. Breast dusky, Avith an olivaceous tinge, and the fea- 

 thers obscurely margined with olive yellow; edge of the wing, 

 wing lining, and axillaries, silky yellow, to yellowish white. 

 Abdomen, dull brown, the feathers broadly margined with brown- 

 ish white. Flanks, vent, and lower tail coverts, blackish brown, 

 the feathers conspicuously margined with dull, somewhat yellow- 

 ish, white. The bill appears to have been bright yellow. The 

 third quill is the longest, the second a hair's breadth at most and 

 the first and fourth less than 0"1 shorter than the third. The 

 tarsuM is between 0*5 and 0*6 in length and is feathered in front 

 for its upper three-fifths. 



I am very doubtful whether this species ought to be associat- 

 ed with the African honeyguides, under Indicator. If ultimately 

 it is decided to separate it, I would drop the name of honey, 

 guide, which there is every reason to believe is inapplicable 

 and christen it Pseudof ring ilia, or the Sham finch. A distinguish- 

 ed naturalist who saw the specimen above described, before it was 

 sent to me, told me that Mr. Mandelli had a new finch for me, and 

 really barring the zygodactyle feet, it is a finch and no mistake. 

 I should like to know more of this bird. For all its feet, I 

 doubt strongly whether it ought to be classed with the Plcida, 



