608 



Mr. D. A. Bannerman (yii the 



Curiously enough, Dohrn does not mention any Estrilda 

 as inhabiting the island during his visit. Keulemans, on 

 the other hand, found a few ocasionally in company with 

 the Spermestes. The natives had no special name for tliis 

 bird, so that we may assume it was not by any means 

 plentiful. Keulemans appears to have seen many more on 

 St. Thomas' than he did on Prince's Island. 



89 



84 

 87 



8. ^Hyphantornis princeps. 



Hyphantomis princeps (Bonap.) ; Salvadori, Orn. Golfo 

 d. Guinea, i. 1903, p. 7. 



Sympledes princeps Bocage, Jorn. Sci. Lisboa, 1903, 

 p. 50. 



Xantliophilus princeps Shelley, Birds of Africa, iv. 1905, 

 p. 468, pi. xlii. fig. 2. 



a. ? ad. 27.ii.09. No. 3. Wing 83 mm. (rather 

 worn) . 



Z». (? [ ? ] ad. 28.ii.09. No. 1. 



c. (^ [ ? ] ad. 28.ii.09. No. 2. 



d. $ [ ? ] ad. 28.ii.09. No. 4. 



e. $ imm. 28.ii.09. No. 6. 

 /. $ ad. 7.ii.09. No. 5. „ 89 

 It appears that the sex in several of the above-mentioned 



specimens has been wrongly determined by the collector. 

 The males can be distinguished at a glance by the rufous 

 crown and by the absence of any white on the belly. The 

 immature male example (specimen e) has the rufous mark- 

 ings of the head and sides of the neck just appearing. In 

 other respects the plumage is similar to that of the adult bird, 

 but less brilliant. Much confusion has taken place over the 

 distribution of this species. Sharpe, in the ' Catalogue of 

 Birds/ xiii. p. 449, gives the range as '^ West Africa from 

 Lagos to Gaboon and the interior of the Congo State, 

 Prince's Island.'"* Apparently Sharpe founded his remarks 

 on Hartlaub (Orn. W. Afr. p. 134), while a specimen is also 

 said to have been obtained in Angola and to be in the 

 Philadelphia Museum. Cassin (Pr. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil. 

 1855, p. 439) mentions another example in the Museum of 



