A Fczv Experiments. 117 



Orang-e Bishops remained. There can be but Httle doubt that 

 all the niissint^" met witli violent ends. These larsj^e weavers 

 (the Rufous-necks) in their brilliant livery of gold, orange and 

 black, are strikingly beautiful birds when seen flashing through 

 the sunlight with their peculiar soaring kind of flight, and were 

 mistaken by many visitors and others for Golden Orioles. 

 Nests were constructed by these industrious little workers all 

 over the garden, and most interesting to witness were the 

 displays of the cock birds, swaying backwards and forwards 

 frequently in an upside-down position, with quivering wings 

 slowly opening and closing whilst all the time pouring forth their 

 curious harsh grating song in a perfect frenzy of excitement. 

 This song, though wretched enough from a musical standpoint, 

 has yet some weird and fascinating quality about it. At the 

 end of June only one pair of these weavers still remained, and 

 10 serious attempt at nesting had taken place. This i)air had 

 taken u]) a position in a high bay tree or bush just in front of 

 our bedroom window, and, whether as a mere coincidence or 

 not, just above a beehive. I mention this as a point of interest, 

 because it is said that in Africa these birds frequently construct 

 their nests in the close proximity of a particularly touchy species 

 of hornet. Tw^o or three nests were constructed here, but what 

 roused my interest was the fact that the hen was beginning to 

 get busy herelf- and made frequent visits to a certain one of 

 them. Soon after this I discovered that she was incubating, 

 and in due course the young hatched out. The cock meanwhile 

 took himself off to the back of the house, where he remained 

 busy all day constructing innumerable half-finished nests in 

 some thick bushes behind the aviaries. In the early morning, 

 however, he w'as always to be seen and heard around the nest in 

 the bay bushes, and again in the evening he would always 

 accompany the hen on her journeys to and fro from the nest to 

 the feeding table, situated at the back of the house. When the 

 young hatched they were almost entirely reared by the hen 

 alone, the cock only making occasional visits to the nursery, 

 more. T fancy, for the purpose of ascertaining that all was well, 

 than with anv idea of helping to give nourishment to the 

 voungsters. Early one fine July morning the youngsters made 

 their exit into the world, and though I myself did not actually 

 see them go, thev were seen later on the same day busily at 



