240 Whydahs. 



II 



Emhcrica fa'-adisca. Linn. 1766. Friiigilla paradisca 



(\"11. 1S17). Stci^iDiiira f^ardisca. (B.p. 1850). Cat. xiii. 



211. /■/(/(' Estrcldii paradisca. (Lafr. 1850). Stcganura 



.s-/i//i'//Hr(/. B.p. 1850. Stcgannra vcrreanxi. (Antin. and 



Salvad. 1873). 



Rkfkrkncks. Butler. V .V . 2^2. Plate. 6 ?. Cassell. 400. 

 Plate. J. S\v. i. IM. II. S . Riiss. i. 202. PI. 7. c^ S^n,^•v. 63. 

 PI. 2^. Sli. iv. 25. B.S.A. i. 149. Butler, i. 188. Gedney. 

 ii. 128. 



Range. Tropical Africa generally and south to Cape 

 Colony. 



This freely imported and well known bird is. I think, the 

 showiest of all the Whydahs I know. When in full colour the 

 males both wild and in cage or aviary are as noticeable and 

 striking as any bird, with their long flaunting tails and ruddy 

 collars and breasts. Many (too many) years ago I remember 

 being much impressed at one of the Shows by seeing 25 males 

 -"V- in full plumage and in perfect condition exhibited all together 

 in one large wire cage. In the Gambia they are quite common 

 and I have brought a good many home at different times. In 

 the rains they are very noticeable, but at other seasons, when 

 they have shed their breeding plumage, they have to be looked 

 for. 



Specimens from South Africa are as a rule rather larger 

 than those, the most commonly imported, from West, and also 

 are rather lighter in colour as far as the ruddy collar and throat 

 is concerned; such birds when imported are sometimes advert- 

 ised as " Golden-collared-Whydahs," though the actual colour 

 scarcely suggests that metal. 



This \ariation in size and colour is, however, not distinct- 

 ive of S. African birds, for in the Ibis for 1905, (p. 317) similar 

 "yellow-collared" birds are described from the Egyptian Sudan. 

 Apparently every grade of variation is to be found, and division 

 into sub-species of the birds from different parts of Africa has 

 not yet been considered necessary. 



The nest is not known, but the egg is described by Shelley 

 as " grey, so very closely spotted with black that the pale ground 

 colour is scarcely visible," The only record of its- breeding 



