AFRICAN WEAVER-BIRDS 
135 
north-east Africa, but more heavily cross-barred above and 
below, whiter on the throat, and paler on the chest and 
abdomen. From Estrilda rhodopyga hypochra (Mearns), de- 
scribed below, it differs in being much more heavily cross-barred 
above and below, and greyer on the upper surface. The 
bill of typical E. r. polia differs from other subspecies in 
having a broad red band on the sides. 
Measurements of type (adult male). — Length (of skin), 100 ; 
wing, 46 ; tail, 45 ; culmen (chord), 10 ; tarsus, 12*5. 
Geographical range . — Lowlands of Southern Abyssinia and 
adjacent region of Somaliland (Dr. A. Donaldson Smith), 
south to Mount Lololokui (Edmund Heller), the northern Guaso 
Nyiro River, and Mombasa, British East Africa (Dr. Glover 
M. Allen). 
Remarks . — Specimens from the coast and adjacent portion 
of British East Africa are slightly darker than those from 
Somaliland and Southern Abyssinia, and sometimes lack the 
red band on the sides of the bill. They are, in fact, inter- 
mediate between the forms hypochra and polia, but nearer the 
latter. 
Estrilda rhodopyga hypochra, new subspecies 
(Kapiti Waxbill) 
Type specimen . — Adult male, Cat. No. 213,786, U.S. National 
Museum ; collected between Kapiti Plains Station, Uganda 
Railway, and camp at Potha, British East Africa, April 27, 
1909, by Edgar A. Mearns. (Original number, 15,632.) 
Characters . — Similar to Estrilda rhodopyga rhodopyga from 
north-east Africa, but paler and browner above and below. 
On the upper parts the cross-bars or vermiculations are fainter, 
becoming almost obsolete on the under parts. The crown is 
less greyish, the throat whiter, and the carmine red of the 
lower back and outer surface of wings less restricted. The 
under parts are Isabella colour instead of tawny-olive. Bill 
black, with a trace of red on sides. Size similar to the typical 
form. 
Measurements of type (adult male). — Length (of skin), 103 ; 
wing, 47 ; tail, 45 ; culmen (chord), 9*5 ; tarsus, 12. 
