34 



his success in breeding " la petite Senegali rouge '' : — 

 " These little birds are tame, gentle and affectionate 

 " to each other, are very sociable and delight in 

 '• sitting close together, more especially at night, 

 " though during the breeding season one pair is likely 

 " to fight with other pairs, and so must be kept 

 " separately. At this time the cock lives only for his 

 " mate, and with a little bit of grass in his beak 

 " courts her by hopping round her with little jumps 

 " either upward from the ground or sideways along a 

 " perch toward her, all the time singing his rapture 

 " and affection. If she receives his advances, he 

 " repeats his little love-song, but if on the other hand 

 " she is coy or shy, she will refuse all his attentions, 

 " and even end by getting angry and driving her 

 *' lover mercilessly and savagely all over their abode, 

 " When all goes well, the nest is soon commenced, 

 " both birds working at it, building with straw, grass, 



greater part of their food from the places where the women 

 throw awa}- the husks of millet and other refuse of their very 

 primitive kitchen arrangements. In this part of Africa the 

 commonest site for the nest is undoubtedly the thatch of the 

 huts, and it usually consists of an irregular heap of grass etc., 

 filling up a hole actually in the straw of the roof, though 

 occasionally a similar collection made into a roughly spherical 

 mass is placed in the fork of one of the V-shaped poles which 

 support the bamboo framework of the roof. They prefer a 

 deserted hut, but if such a one is not available they go to nest 

 just as readily in one which is occupied, flying in and out 

 of the door or sitting on their eggs, quite regardless of the 

 unfeathered owners of the hut, who, I must say, never do any- 

 thing likely to disturb or drive away their little lodgers. Even 

 when not nesting man}' of them roost every night in the huts, 

 either in an old nest-hole or on one of the rafters, and appear 

 to be wonderfully tolerant of what one would have thought 

 was absolutely unbearable, as I have seen them roosting in the 

 roof of a hut in the middle of which a wood fire was burning, 

 the smoke of which filled the whole place, as it very slowly 

 made its escape through the thick thatch. — E. H. 



