Birds from British East Africa. 
681 
18. Pytelta nitidula. (Plate XT.) 
Estrelda nitidula Hartl. Ibis, 1865, p. 269 [Natal]. 
Hypargos nitidulus Shelley, B. of A. iv. p. 242 (1905). 
a. [<?] lrmn. Mombasa, Oct. 1901. 
The British Museum possesses an immature male of this 
very rare species procured at Durban by Gordge, which is, 
no doubt, a typical example of P. nitidula (Hartlaub). 
This specimen is apparently of the same species as the bird 
procured by Mr. Percival at Mombasa, but the latter is much 
more nearly mature. In Mr. Jackson^s collection there are 
four examples of the same species obtained at Entebbe and 
Marsabit, including an adult pair and two immature birds. 
The evidence before us seems clearly to indicate that the 
East African examples are of the same species as the bird 
from Natal, but without adult specimens from the latter 
locality for comparison it is impossible to be quite certain on 
this point. 
The description of the adult male and female is as 
follows — 
Adult male .—Closely allied to P. schlegeli Sharpe, from 
West Africa, but with a less robust bill and a straighter 
culmen ; the scarlet area round the eye and on the throat is 
much less intense in colour and much more restricted, and 
there is only a wash of scarlet on the olive-green chest, 
whereas in P. schlegeli the chest is mostly vermilion. The 
colour of the upper parts is dull olive, not golden-olive. 
The bill in dried skins appears to be nearly uniform black, 
only the tip of the lower mandible being reddish ; in 
P. schlegeli the bill is bluish at the base, and the tips of both 
mandibles as well as the greater part of the lower are rose- 
colour. 
Total length 4 inches ; wing 2*0 ; tail 1*4 ; tarsus 0*6. 
Adult female. —Differs from the male in having the lores 
and the area round the eyes, as well as the chin and throat, 
light cinnamon, the middle of the chest and breast being of 
the same colour ; the under tail-coverts are pale yellowish- 
buff, instead of olive-green. 
Total length 4*0 inches; wing 2*0 ; tail 1*2 ; tarsus 0*6. 
