PLOCEINiE. 
Hyphantornis.* 
Bill as long as, or shorter than, the head, broad at the base, laterally compressed to the tip, with the 
culmen broad, smooth, and rounded, advancing to a point on the forehead, and the lateral margins 
slightly angulated at the base, and straight towards the tip ; the nostrils basal, exposed, oval, and 
pierced in the substance of the bill. Wings reaching a little beyond the base of the tail ; the first quill 
very short ; the second equalling the sixth ; the third, fourth, and fifth of nearly equal length, but the 
fourth rather the longest. Tail rather short, even or slightly rounded at the end. Tarsi as long as the 
middle toe. Toes strong, the lateral toes equal in length ; and the claws strong and much curved. 
Inhabiting the vast continent of Africa, living more or less in society on trees, in the neighbourhood of marshes and 
rivers. Their food consists of seeds and coleopterous insects. As the breeding season advances, they generally con- 
gregate in flocks, and suspend their nests from the branches overhanging and nearly touching the water. These are 
formed of coarse grass, and so substantially constructed, that each reqviires a long time for its completion ; their 
forms varv with the species , some are kidney-shaped, others like a retort, &c. The females generally lay three or four 
eggs. 
1. H. tcxtor (Gmel.) PI. enl. 375. and 376- — Fringilla velata j 
lAcht. Swains. Zool. 111. n. s. t. 37. ; Loxia melanocephala Gmel. ; 
Ploceus senegalensis Stcph. 
2. H. grandis. — Ploceus coUaris Fras. Proc. Z..S. 1842. 142. 
3. H. larvata (Riipp.) Faun. Abyss, t. 32. f. 1. — Loxia 
abyssinica } Gmel. 
4. H. velata (Vieill.) Ency. Meth. 701. — Ploceus personatus 
Swains. Two Cent, and a Quart. 306. 
5. H. capitalis (Lath.) Lath. Syn. pi. 112. 
6. H. gutturalis (Vigors), Proc. Z. S. 1831. 92. 
7. H. spilonota (Vigors), Proc. Z. S. 1831. 92., A. Smith, III. 
S. Afr. Zool. pi. 66. f. 1. — Ploceus stictonotus A. Smith ; Ploceus 
flaviceps Swains. B. of VV. Afr. pi. 32. 
8. H. ocularia (A. Smith), Proc. S. Afr. Inst., 111. S. Afr. 
Zool. pi. 30. f. 2. 
9. H. brachyptera (Swains.) B. of W. Afr. pi. 10. 
10. H. cucullata (Swains.) Two Cent, and a Quart. 307- 
11. H. Galbula (Rupp.) Faun. Abyss, t. 32. f. 2. 
12. U. flavocnpilta (Vieill.) Ency. Meth. 698. 
13. H. collaris (Vieill.) Ency. Meth. 699. 
14. H. vitellina (Licht.) Cat. Dupl. Berl. Mus. No. 237. 
15. H. personata (Vieill.) Gal. des Ois. t. 84. — Ploceus 
melanotis Swains. 
16. H. aurocapilla (Swains.) Two Cent, and a Quart. 346. 
17. H. aureqflava (A. Smith), 111. S. Afr. Zool. p. 
18. H. suhaurea (A. Smith), 111. S. Afr. Zool. pi. 30. f. 1 
Ploceus tahatahi A. Smith. ? 
19. H, aurifrons (Temm.) PI. col. 175, \16. — Ploceus ictero- 
cephalus Swains. 
20. H. capensis (A. Smith), 111. S. Afr. Zool. pi. 66. — Ploceus 
abyssinicus Cuv. 
21. H. aurantia (Vieill.) Ois. Chant, pi. 44. 
22. H. chrysogastra (Vigors), Proc. Z. S, 1831. 92. 
23. H. ruhiginosa (Riipp.) Faun. Abyss, pi. 33. f. 1. 
24. H. melanotis (Lafr.) Mag. de Zool. 1839. P'- 7- 
25. H. castaneofusca (Lafr.) Rev. Zool. 1840. 99. 
26. H. isabellina (Lafr.) Rev. Zool. 1840. 226. 
27. H. Guerini. — Ploceus melanotis Guer. Rev. Zool. 1843. 
321. 
28. H. mariquensis (Smith), 111. Zool. S. Afr. Birds, pi. 103. 
29. H. flavoviridis (Riipp.) Syst. Uebers. Vog. Nord-Ost-Afr. 
t. 29. 
30. H. crythrocephalus (Riipp.) Syst. Uebers. Vog. Nord-Ost- 
Afr. p. 71. 
31 H. intermedia (Rupp.) Syst. Uebers. Vog. Nord-Ost-Afr. 
p. 71. 
32. H.favigula Hartl. Rev. Zool. 1845. p. 406. 
33. H. modesta Hartl. Rev. Zool. 1845. p. 406. 
Sycobius Vieill. -\ 
Bill as long as the head, Avith the culmen and the lateral margins curved, the latter very slightly 
sinuated ; the nostrils basal, exposed, and rounded. Wings moderate, and somewhat rounded ; with the 
* This name is established in the place of Ploceus, as improperly given to this genus by modern authors, but which I have employed in 
its proper place as applied by the author of the genus. 
t Established by Vieillot in {Analyse, p. 33.) I8I6, in the place of Malimbus, which he had proposed in 1805 ; in 1820 he added a 
third name Ficophogus. Mr. Swainson, in 1837, gave the name of Symplectes ; and in the same year Sir W. Jardine published Eupodes. 
These are coequal with the above. 
