lO 



come, I might have been looking still. Of course 

 I could easily have bought some birds in colour, 

 but it went against the grain to pay six or eight 

 shillings for a bird which a few weeks earlier I could 

 have had for a florin. So I kept to my out-of- 

 colour selections, and to the best of my recollection 

 this first Weaver was the only one which turned out 

 to be a hen, out of all the many I afterwards bought. 

 If ever an old saying was open to criticism it is that 

 one which tells us that comparisons are odious, re- 

 garding it, of course, purely from the avicultural stand- 

 point. For it is only by reading, and above all by 

 actually comparing difi"erent birds, that one is able 

 to see the distinctive markings which indicate the 

 male sex of the Weavers when out of colour. The eye 

 streak, for instance, is a trifle wider and longer, and 

 the least bit deeper in colour ; the flight and tail 

 feathers have the black and buff more defined ; the 

 beak will sometimes have a slight shade of dullness 

 over it, or perhaps just the tip may be black ; the 

 breast and colouring generally will have a more gloss}' 

 and "live" appearance; and, above all, there is that 

 almost indefinable air of boldness and assertivenessin 

 the carriage of the male bird which enables one to 

 decide at once, where other signs perhaps incline one 

 to doubt. 



I have kept most of the Weavers commonly 

 imported, and amongst them the Yellow, Orange, 

 Grenadier, Crimson-crowned, Napoleon, Madagascar, 

 Comoro, and Red-billed occur to me. " They are all 

 exceedingly spiteful birds and harass and attack all 

 others with which they are kept." Vox populi, vox del 

 — .so it must be right!, Personally — and as these 



