Birds from the White Nile. 407 
a. S' Jebel Ahmed- Agha, 19th Feb. No. 60. 
b-d. ^ . Kaka, 26th to 28th Feb. Nos. 7Qy 76 a, 77. 
e,f. $ ^ . Kaka, 5th & 15th Mar. Nos. 112, 134. 
^-n. (^ ^ et (^ imm. Fashoda, 26th Mar. to 2nd April. 
Nos. 186, 211-213, 229, 243, 291. 
0. (^. 20 miles N. of Fashoda, 6th April. No. 299. 
Iris pale straw-coloured granulated with black ; upper 
mandible dusky, lower white, dusky along upper edges ; legs 
and feet pinkish horn-coloured. 
All the specimens of Reichenbach^s Weaver-Finch collected 
by Mr. Hawker are out of plumage. His birds were obtained 
between the 19th of February and the 6th of April and none 
shew any trace of assuming the breeding- plumage. The 
immature males apparently differ in having the buff on the 
under parts of a more decided tint than the adults and the 
wing varies from 2'55-2'6 inches, whereas in the adult male 
it measures 2"75-2*8. The female has the wing 2*5. 
In a small collection made by Capt. H. N. Dunn in the 
month of May at the mouth of the Zeraf River there are 
four males in various interesting stages of transitional 
plumage- — the most backward shewing only a few feathers 
of the breeding-plumage, while in the most advanced it 
is almost complete. A male procured by Emin Pasha at 
Lado on the 6th of May, and very similar to the last 
named, is in almost full breeding-dress, but still retains 
one or two feathers of the undress plumage ; a second male 
obtained by him at Eor on the 10th of July is in full 
plumage. 
It is thus clear that the breeding-plumage is annually 
assumed in the month of May. 
[Reichenbach^s Weaver- Finch goes about in enormous 
flocks, which appear to be kept continually on the move by 
Hawks, and prove a great nuisance to the naturalist. Nearly 
every bush seems to be full of them, and when they fly off 
they generally frighten every other species of small bird that 
happens to be near, thus making collecting very difficult. 
I never saw any individuals in breeding-plumage, though I 
must have seen many millions. — R. M. H.] 
