PLOCEUS SUBAUREUS. 
the length of the second. Tail rather long, and its apex slightly rounded, 
legs and toes robust, the tarsi in front distinctly scutellated, behind entire ; 
claws strong and slightly curved. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Inches. Lines. 
Length from the point of the bill to 
the tip of the tail 6 10 
of the bill from the angle of 
the mouth 0 8 
of the wings when folded... 3 5 
of the tail 2 9 
Inches. Lines. 
Length of the tarsus 0 10 
of the outer toe 0 
of the middle toe 0 8 j 
of the inner toe 0 5 
of the hinder toe 0 5^ 
The colours of the female are not quite so bright as those of the male. 
The head-quarters of this species and of Ploceus ocularius must be looked for to the north- 
ward of the Tropic of Capricorn ; at least the paucity of specimens to the southward of it would 
warrant such an inference. During a residence of fourteen years in South Africa, I only 
met with four specimens of the last named species and ten of the present, and even a part of 
these were contained in the numerous collection, which during that period were submitted to 
my inspection. The specimens of P. subaureus, which I myself procured, were all killed in 
the neighbourhood of Algoa Bay, and those which were contained in the collections alluded to 
were either got in the same locality or more to the eastward. 
A closely allied bird is found on the western coast of North Africa, and will require to be 
considered as of the same species if the opinion of Temminck* be founded upon facts. That 
learned ornithologist, when speaking of the differences in size between what he calls L’Aigle 
oceanique ( Falco leucogaster, Lath) and Le Blagre, Levaillant, observes that he has noticed 
as great differences in that respect in other species. “ The birds of prey of Senegal and the 
whole coast of Guinea,” he remarks, “ are one-third smaller than the same species which 
inhabit the middle of Africa, while all the birds of the genera Lanius, Merops, Premerops, and 
the greater number of the Gallinacece of the eastern coasts of Africa are larger and their 
plumage of purer colours and more brilliant than the same species in the more sterile parts of 
the middle of the continent.” 
As our experience does not incline us to such opinions, we shall continue to regard the Sierra 
Leone bird ( Ploceus aureoflavus, nobis) + as distinct, until more detailed evidence be 
adduced to show that climate and food are productive of such modifications. 
* Planches colores, Plate 49. Text. 
f Ploceus aureo-flamis. Head, throat, and breast saffron-yellow ; belly, vent, and under tail coverts 
light chrome-yellow ; back of neck, interscapulars, back, shoulders, tertiary quill feathers, and tail, inter- 
mediate between sulphur and honey-yellow. Primary and secondary quill feathers yellowish brown, 
and margined externally with pure yellow. Bill horn -coloured. Legs and claws flesh-coloured. Length 
from point of bill to tip of tail 5-j inches; wings when folded, 3 in. 2 lin. ; tail, 2 in. Inhabits Western 
Africa. 
