THE



Avicultural Magazine


THE JOURNAL OF THE

AVICULTURAL SOCIETY



Fourth Series .*—-Vol. XIII.—No. 8.—All rights reserved. AUGUST, 1935.



THE ROSY TWIN-SPOT


(Hypargos margaritatus)


The present species bears a very close resemblance to the well-

known Hypargos niveiguttatus. It may, however, easily be distingnished

by the much paler general colouring and by the fact that the flank-

aspots in the male are washed with pink. The female shows only a tinge

of red on the upper tail-coverts.


The sudden appearance of this pretty little bird last year alive in

this country was, perhaps, one of the most unlooked for occurrences

•that could well have happened, for its history and the little that is

known of the species go to show that, even if not one of the rarest

•of the African Estreldidae it is certainly very local.


Hypargos margaritatus was first described by Strickland in 1844

■from a specimen procured at the Cape and subsequently presumed to

be an individual escaped from captivity. It was not then heard of again

until 1906, when a pair arrived from Portuguese East Africa. In 1933

it suddenly made its appearance over here alive, and without any data

.as to locality. Even from this scanty information we can conclude with

•tolerable certainty that the species, though local, may be abundant

within its limited range, which appears to be the district of Inhambane,

in Portuguese East Africa.


The few individuals which arrived alive were, unfortunately, not



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