297 

 BIRDS FROM THE GAMBIA. 



By E. HOPKINSOX. 

 {Continued fiovt page 2^2.) 



Wkave;rs. I got a large number of these, all in 

 winter plumage at the time of capture, but now mostly 

 iu full colour. The majority have turned out to be 

 Crimson-crowned Bishops (Pyivinelana flanwiiceps), all 

 cocks. What can be the explanation of there not being 

 one hen among the twenty odd birds, all caught out of 

 colour and practically all at the same time .- There must 

 be a preponderance of hens, as I suppose, like other 

 Weavers, one cock mates with several hens, and if so, 

 where were the hens when \\\y boy caught this lot ? 

 Perhaps, when out of colour, the sexes separate, and the 

 flocks consist only of one sex or the other. As regards 

 the time of the change of colour, it appears to var}' a 

 good deal in different individuals, for some of the earliest 

 of my birds began to show red before I left Bathurst iu 

 July, while a few are still nearly all brown with but few 

 red feathers. The colours also vary a great deal, a rich 

 scarlet in the majority, but in others a definite orange is 

 found — the colours varying at different ages, I expect. 



Before I could distinguish the various species, that 

 is, while they were still out of colour, I mentally divided 

 them up into three groups : — (i) vSmall, (2) Large and (3) 

 Larger Bishops ; of these the small (with two exceptions) 

 have proved to be Orange Bishops (P. franciscana) , and 

 as half of those I have kept show no signs of colour, I 

 suppose I may consider them hens, and the pairs as true 

 pairs ; in confirmation of this is also the fact that, this 

 3'ear, the Bishops have made much more perfect nests 

 than in former years, the help of the hens being said to 

 be absolutely necessary for the proper completion of the 

 work. 



The two exceptions in this group are probably 

 Napoleons, but being still out of colour I cannot be 

 certain ; they differ from the immature Orange Bishops 

 in that the dark centres and edges of the feathers in the 



