BRONZE-HOODED BENGALY. 
Spermestes cucullata, Swains. 
Above testaceous brown ; beneath white ; head, throat, 
shoulder-covers, and sides of the body glossy dark brown, 
bronzed with purplish ; flanks, rump, and upper tail-covers 
whitish banded with brown. 
This diminutive songster is perhaps the smallest of 
its race, for it only measures three inches and a 
quarter in extreme length. It seems to be altoge- 
ther new, and as we have seen but two specimens, 
is probably a rare bird. It is also interesting, as 
showing the characters of a connecting type between 
the shorter footed division last exemplified and that 
more peculiar to India, where the feet are very 
large. Our present species certainly belongs to this 
latter group, for the hind-toe and claw, as in 
Euplectes, is as long as the tarsus, and the upper 
mandible is higher, and therefore thicker than the 
under. This great-footed division, in short, has the 
feet of Euplectes, with the short, thick, and remark- 
ably broad bill of Amadina ; and having separated 
these groups as distinct types, we have no other 
alternative than to name this ; although we are 
more inclined to consider Estrelda as a sub-genus 
