Notes o)i ail East African Weaver. 9 



A Few Notes on an East African Weaver. 



Bv Chas. R. Young. 



The two photos, illustratinjj;' these notes represent 

 Weaver-birds' nests in situ, were taken, one at Sheikh. Othman. 

 about ten miles from Aden, and the other at Zanzibar. 



I am not sure what species the birds were, but 1 have seen 

 so many of them that I should know them immediately if I 

 saw them (presumably Orange or Crimson-crowned Weavers. — 

 Fd.), yet to describe them in detail is by no means easy. The 

 cocks were a rather bris^ht orange and flame-coloured about 

 the head, some more so than others, so I thought as I watched 

 them disporting in their native haunts. The hens were com- 

 paratively dull coloured birds. I have seen them in British, 

 German (late), and Portugese East Africa; also in Zanzibar. 



The note was a not unmusical trill, often uttered on the 

 wing, and reminded me somewhat of a linnet. 



Size about that of a Chaffinch, possibly a little larger, 

 bill rather hefty. 



I feel sure the nests in both photos were built by the 

 ssme species. 



The eggs were white and transparent. 



I saw them in great numbers and at many places, but I 

 was never more than a few months in any one place, and could 

 never find anyone acquainted with their names or who knev/ 

 anything about them. One thing is evident : I saw them in such 

 numbers, that if there be an Orange-coloured bird and a Flame- 

 coloured one it must be the commonest species of the two. 

 unless both be equally common. 



T have always regretted I was never able to learn much 

 about the birds while there ; this specially applies to the mainland 

 cf Mozambique, which was a veritable paradise for a lover of 

 beautifully coloured birds. 



The Zanzibar photo I took while lying on my back, 

 snapping at angle of 60 to 70 degrees. 



[We think the species which built the nests was the Crimson-crowned 

 Weaver (Pyromelana flamniiceps). as both descriptions seem to fit this species. 

 It mig-ht possibly be the Orange Weaver (P. franciscana), but we have little 

 doub that it w\as the first named species which Mr. Chas. R. Young- 

 describes. — Ed.] 



