174 



BIRDS OF DAMABA LAND. 



The iris is brown, the ring round the eyes reddish 

 orange ; the bill scarlet, merging into vermilion at the 

 base and at the corner of the mouth ; the legs and toes 

 are flesh-coloured. 



Average measurements of four males and two 

 females : — 



Entire length . . 

 Length of folded wing 



„ tai'sus 



„ middle toe 



„ tail 



„ WU 



Males. 



in. lin. 



4 7 



2 7 



8 



7 



1 G 

 6 



G 



208, Amadina erythrocephala (Linn.). Eed-headed Finch. 



Loxia erythrocephala, Smith's Zool. of S. Africa, pi. 69. 

 Amadina erythrocephala, Andersson, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 7. 



„ „ Layard's Cat. No. 397. 



„ „ Chapman's Travels in S. Afr., App. p. 402, 



This pretty bird occurs in Great Namaqua Land 

 and at Lake Ngami, also in Damara Land, where, how- 

 ever, it is far from common, except in places, being, in 

 fact, quite a local species. I found it congregated in 

 large flocks on the Omaruru Eiver at the end of October ; 

 and it was also pretty numerous at Objimbinque, where 

 it nested under the eaves of my house and in the adjacent 

 trees in company with the South- African Sparrow (Passer 

 arcuatus), which it exactly resembles in its manners and 

 habits; and I have found the nests of these two species 

 on the same tree, and even on the same bough, as well 

 as side by side under my eaves. The present species 

 forms its nest of small sticks, slender roots, &c., and lines 



