resembles the slender-billed members of the latter genus, and it
must be placed in the neighbourhood of the last named form and
Malimbus.
The following is a translation of the original description :—Above
dusky olivaceous; the back, rump and upper tail-coverts citron
yellow; wing-coverts duller, and dusky brown in colour; the median
series with a broad ending of white ; the greater coverts edged
with white on the outer web, underneath white ; the breast and
abdomen yellowish ; quills dusky, the outer web narrowly fringed
with grey ; tail dusky ; bill dusky horn colour, the mandible paler
at the base; feet pale dusky; iris red. Total length, 5'5 inches;
bill, 0'65 ; wing, 3'35 ; tail, T95 ; tarsus, 0'75.
432. M a l im b u s r u b r ic e p s , Sundev. Red-headed Weaver Bird.,
This handsome Weaver Bird was discovered by the late Professor
Wahlberg on the Limpopo, and besides one specimen in the British
Museum, formerly in the collection of the editor, we have only seen
two other specimens obtained by Mr. P. H. Guillemard in the Water-
berg district of the Transvaal. During Mr. Jameson’s expedition it
was procured on the Tatin River;* Mr. Ayres writes as follows :—
“ This is by no means a common bird. I found it breeding at
the Tatin; it makes a rough retort shaped nest which hangs
mouth downwards from the outer twigs of rather tall trees. Sometimes
a new nest is hung on to the tube of last year’s structure.
Mr. Jameson found a nest to the north of the Umvuli in October,
with two blue eggs in it, and at Tatin we pulled down one of the
double nests, and Mr. Jameson on trying to put his hand up to the
tube very nearly got bitten by a snake, which was lying in the
nest and had swallowed the old bird as well as her blue eggs. It
is evident therefore that nests of this shape do not keep out snakes.”
Senor Anchieta has procured the present bird in Benguela at
Quillengues and Capangombe as well as at Humbe.
We transcribe the following diagnosis given by Mr. Elliot in his
review of the genus Malimbus (Ibis. 1876, p. 461) :—Entire head,
neck, throat, and breast bright scarlet ; back and wings ashy brown,
outer edges of secondaries and primaries bright yellow ; centre of
the mantle washed with pale vermilion ; rump pale ash ; tail ashy
brown, the edges of the outer webs bright yellow; entire under
* Captain Shelley informs us that he considers Mr. Jameson’s bird different
from M. rubicepsi
parts pure white; bill pale horn colour; t o t a l length, 5 | inches; -
culmen, wing, 3J ; tail, 2£.
M. Guillemard has published the following note on the species
« In the male, the entire "head, cheeks, chin, throat, and neck are a
brilliant orange red, the lowest feathers of which at the nape are
slightly tipped with black. Whole of under surface dirty white;
back brown, with a slight surface tinge of greenish yellow; wings
brown, the outer webs of primaries and secondaries being edged with
canary yellow, as are also the outer- webs of the tail feathers, though
faintly; iris reddish brown; legs brown; bill yellowish. Eemale
similar, except that the brilliant head of the male bird becomes in her
a dirty greenish yellow. Length, 5 inches; wings, 8£ inches; tail, 2
inches. The nest, composed of dried leaves, small sticks and grass, was
a curious structure, inasmuch as the dependent mouth was bell-shaped
and larger than the top of the nest in which the eggs were laid. The
latter, two in number, I have unfortunately lost. They were of an entire
blue colour. The nest, taken in the month of December, was built at
the end of a mimosa branch, and was some distance from any water.
Fig. Elliot, Ibis. 1876, pi. xiii, fig. 2.
4 3 3 . T e x t o r e r y t h r o r h y n c h u s , Smith.
Red-billed Black Weaver Bird.
This species is easily recognized by its red bill, and it is distinguished
from the other species of the genus Textor by having the
basal half of the under surface of the primaries white. It is not
found in the Cape Colony, and Sir Andrew Smith procured it after
passing the 25th deg. of south latitude, frequenting herds of
buffaloes, and perching on their backs in search of the parasitical
insects which infest their hides. We have received it from Kalahari
desert through the late Mr. Moffatt. “ In the Transvaal,” writes Mr.
Ayres, “ this finch inhabits the bush and is not, so far as I know,
ever found in the open country. We met with but few of them, and
then always in company with the little blue Hoopoe (Irrisor
cyanomelas) in twos and threes. The stomach of the bird sent contained
insects; but berries, seeds, and fruits were not to be had at
. that season, our trip being in mid-winter.” Mr. T. E. Buckley met
with the species in Bamangwato, and the late Mr. Frank Oates
procured several specimens at Tati, and also near the first Makalaka
Kraal on the Zambesi road. This gentleman shota specimen out of a