on Birds from Shendi, Sudan. 11 
first was shot the second flew to the ground and pecked its 
dead mate most savagely. 
18. Pyromelana franciscana (Isert). 
231 (?), 228 c?, 230 c?, 271 ? , 369 ? . 
Allour specimens are in an intermediate state o£ plumage; 
we saw no males in the full dress of red and black, which, ac- 
cording to von Heuglin, is assumed in August and September. 
This bird frequents the fields of millet or "dhurra/^ on 
the seeds of which it feeds ; it is not common at Shendi, 
but a good many individuals were seen a few miles south, 
while at Wad-Habushi, about fifty miles south, it was 
exceedingly abundant. 
19. HyPOCHERA ULTRAMARINA (Gm.). 
72 (^,65 J, 68 6 , 180 <S , 359 d", 400 6 , 251 6. 
This little bright blue bird was fairly common along the 
river-banks, more especially in the cultivated parts. It was 
generally seen in company with Lagonosticta brunneiceps. 
20. Vidua principalis (Linn.). 
193 ?. 
Our solitary specimen of this bird is a young female. We 
did not observe any adult birds in nuptial plumage. 
21. tEdemosyne cantans (Gm.). 
54 cJ,319 c^,358 c^, 416 (^, 417 cT. 31 ? , 46 ? , 50 ? , 
415 ?, 280 (?). 
Most of our specimens are in a moulting condition. 
According to Lorenz and Hellmayr (Journ. f. Orn. 1901, 
p. 232), North-east African and Arabian specimens differ 
in several points from typical West-African specimens, and 
have therefore been named jEdeynosyne orie7italis. 
These birds were tolerably common at Shendi and were 
remarkably tame. They were very sluggish in their habits, 
and might often be seen in small parties sitting closely 
huddled together on a branch for hours at a time. 
Towards the end of February a pair of these birds built 
a nest in a low bush in the midst of our camp ; it was 
composed almost entirely of scraps of j^per and of cotton- 
