i8o 
77^1? Birds of Gavibia. 
A.prabonica. LITTLE BROWN AND WHITE SUNBIRl). 
Range. Gambia (one specimen in the Riitisb Museum) to the Congo. 
(Sh.) A plain coloured little bird with no metallic hues at all, brown above 
and white below. Both sexes alike. 
Tliere are a couple of additions wliich I .sliould like to make to niy note.s on the 
Weavers of the Gambia. 
This year (1909) I saw a good many more of the Yellow-shonldered Weavers 
mentioned on page 8. This was at Kartongf on our southern border, where they were not 
at all uncommon in May on the dry sandy flats, covered with coarse grass and low 
straggling thorns, which fringe the banks of the Allahin river outside its belt of mangrove 
bush and nuid. Here they were feeding on the ground with other Weavers and Wa.vbills 
in pairs, or more commonly in parties of three, one in colour, the ethers in brown plumage 
and probably hens. Tliey were very tame for Weaver-birds and only flew away on one's 
close approach, and then only to the nearest busli, to return almost at once, as one moved 
on, to the ground, where they seemed to spend the greater part of their time. The males 
were about half-coloured by the middle of May, with the j'ellow patches (absolutely 
confined to the shoulders) very distinct and a good deal of black body colour, though this 
was still mottled with brown feathers. 
I am still ignorant to ■vi\\?^t getius they belong', as altho\igh I often was close enough 
to see them well, I never actually met them when I had a gun with me. Their shape and 
short tail at one time made me think they were Urobrachyae, from what I remembered of 
the plate of one of that getins in the li. M. Catalogue, while the colour pattern of the male 
was exactly that of the Yellow-shouldered Wliydah {Coliupasscr mncrocercus), but then 
their tails were distinctly .short, (even allowing for the fact that they were not yet in full 
colourl not comparatively long as they would have been in that species, which resembles in 
that respect its near ally, the Yellow-backed Whydah, which does occur in the Gambia and 
which I know well, wild and in captivity. Besides the known range of C. mncrocercus is in 
Eastern .\frica, Abyssinia, etc. 
Spc-imo^piza hnematina. p. 38. THE lir.tTK-BILLED .WEAVKK. In June I saw 
a single specimen of this bird in a cageful of Weavers and Whydahs, which after days of 
haggling and much parting I eventually obtained and brought home. It is a bird about 
the size of an Orange liishop, very Bnllfincli like in build and strikingly handsome. The 
male has a lovely crinrson breast and face, a tlue-black back and belly. The female has 
a similar crimson front, though the colour does not extend quite so widely nor is it quite 
so brilliant, but the back is grey and the belly black, speckled with round, white spots, 
giving that part of the body quite a Guinea Fowl look. The beak is dark blue with a red 
tip, which makes the bird look as if it had just been pecking one of its fellows. My bird 
(a hen) lived to get home and to the Zoo, wb.ere she is now in the small-bird house. Wliile 
with me she was easily catered for and appeared to be quite harmless to other birds. Her 
appearance certainly suggests a certain amount of savagery and her introduction into a 
cage full of birds caused quite a panic among them at first, but I do not think she ever 
even attempted the slightest attack on any of her companions. 
(To be continued) . 
