Waxbills (Estrildidae)

Magpie Mannikin (Spermestes fringilloides) - HBW 15, p. 361

French: Capucin pie German: Riesenelsterchen Spanish: Capuchino Pío
Other common names: Pied Mannikin/Munia/Grassfinch/Weaver Finch, Giant Mannikin, Magpie Munia

Taxonomy: Plocus [sic] fringilloides Lafresnaye, 1835, India; error = Liberia.
Genus often subsumed in Lonchura. Birds from Dondo Forest, in S Mozambique, described as race pica, but appear to differ little from those elsewhere in species' range. Monotypic.

Distribution: Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia E, very patchily, to Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, S Sudan and W Ethiopia, S to Gabon, N & SW Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, S Mozambique and E South Africa.