356 
Captain G. E. Shelley on the 
This genus I have divided into four species belonging to 
two well-marked groups—one characterized by the bill not 
being red, and in the fully adult male by a redhead, the other 
group by a red bill in both sexes. In the former the winter 
plumage is almost precisely the same as in Pyromelana. 
The members of the red-billed group are certainly subject 
to considerable variation in brightness, according to age 
and season, and occasionally somewhat in size; but I can 
detect no constant characters for the separation of these 
varieties. 
I have not kept Q. russi as a distinct species, as it appears 
to me to be only a pale-headed variety of the male of Q. cethio- 
pica , or a very fully plumaged female of that species; and 
Q. quelea has a similar variety. 
Key to the Species. 
a. Bill never red ; head red in adult males. 
Bill longer, culmen less curved; wing 2 - 5 inches. 
In adult males base of the red feathers of the 
throat black . 104. Q. erythrops. 
b\ Bill shorter, culmen more curved; wing 
2-3 inches. In adult males base of the red 
feathers of the throat white. 105. Q. cardinalis. 
b. Bill red; no scarlet on the head. 
c 1 . In adult males, sides of the head and upper 
half of the throat black. 
c 2 . Forehead black. 106. Q. quelea. 
d 2 . Forehead not black . 107. Q. cethiopica. 
104. Quelea erythrops. 
Ploceus erythrops , Hartl. Rev. Zool. 1848, p. 110, St. 
Thomas Is. 
Euplectes erythrops, Hartl. Abhandl. nat. Ver. Brem. ii. 
1848, pi. 8. 
Fringilla erythrocephala, Des Murs (nee Linn.), Lefebvre' , s 
Yoy. Abyss. 1850, p. 119, Adowa. 
Foudia erythrops, Bp. Consp. i. 1850, p. 446. 
Quelea capitata, Hu Bus, Bull. Acad. Brux. xxii. part 1, 
1855, p. 151, Senegal. 
Quelea erythrops, Heine, J. f. Q. 1860, p. 144. 
