240 Breed! np: of Hybrid Cr'im'ion-crow'ned Weaver. 



I should say 'about twelve clays. The hen as usual did all the 

 w'ork about the house, the cock merely keeping other birds at 

 a distance which he did very effectively. I supplied the 

 gentle;^, rather sparingly at first, fearing their effect on the 

 very young birds, but these for the first ten days were the 

 only live food supplied; after that, I was able to get a few 

 mealworms from a neighbouring miller's man, and these she 

 at once took in preference. But I may say right here that 

 I believe she would have succeeded in rearing her young with- 

 out the assistance of mealworms or other live-food. Other 

 foods that she used were bread and milk, canary or millet. 

 From the time I supplied mealworms, the growth of the young 

 birds was rapid. 



When fourteen days old the first one left the nest and 

 I was able to get one or two photos of the hen feeding it 

 on the top of its late home. The next day the hen enticed 

 it to the shelter of a Ifirge laurel bush, where for seven days, 

 Siomc of Avhich were frightfully cold and wet, it was quite 

 inivisible. The second bird remained in the nest three days 

 logger, and left it only to perish from an early frost. Both 

 birds showed the buff eyebrow-streak, common to so many 

 species of Weavers when oui of colour, and in .shape much 

 more nearly resembled the Crimson-crowned Weaver than 

 they did their (mother. The death of the second young one 

 allowed the mother toi pay much more attention to Jier first- 

 born, and she proved a perfect little feeding machine, taking 

 in tnealworms land gentles to the laurel bush as fast as I 

 liked to give them to her, which, as the weather was bad, was 

 {©.irly often. When the young one was three weeks old I 

 saw it fior the first time flying after its mother. She now gave 

 it mealworms without first swallowing them herself. At the 

 time of writmg it has grown "into quite a nice bird, and is, I 

 slwuld say, a [male. It is altogether a stouter and bigger 

 bird than the hen. 



1 hope that in two years time or sooner I hiay be 

 able to describe its breeding plumagte. 



