242 



JVIivdahs. 



1788. 



Fr'uigilla longicauda (VII. 



Russ. i. 

 Sh. iv. 



213. 

 32. 



Hnibcrica loiii^icanda. (Ini. 



1817). 

 Vidua longicauda (Cuv. 1817). 

 Embcrica impcrialis. Shaw. 1796. 

 J'idiia phacnicoptcra. Sw. 1837. 



References. Bntler. F.F. 286. Plate. S. Q . 

 PI. 7. 6. Singv. 65. PI. 29. B.S.A. i. 139. fig. 

 Butler, i. 189. Cassell. 401. Gedney. ii. 130. 



Range. S.E. Africa (E. Cape Colony to Transvaal). 



In the genera so far dealt with 

 the lengthening of the tail is confined 

 to the four central feathers, but in this 

 and all the others in which elongation 

 occtn-s the whole tail is affected, 

 though the central ones become the 

 longest, the length of the rest dimin- 

 ishing regularly and gradually from 

 within outwards. 



A good deal more is known 

 about the breeding habits of this Why- 

 dah than is the case with most of its re- 

 lations, and it has also been bred in 

 captivity, the first breeder being Mr. 

 Tescheniaker in 1909, who gives a full 

 account of his success in A.M. 1910. p. 

 81. In this case the male by force of 

 circumstances had only one wife, but 

 this departure from the normal did not 

 interfere with the result, three fine 

 young liirds. The nest (Mr. Tesche- 

 niaker writes) was cup-shaped and 

 placed on the ground well-hidden in 

 the foliage growing in an artificial 

 mnrsh which had been arranged in the aviary. The male did not 

 attempt to feed the female while she was sitting, but the breeder 

 thinks that he did take some share in the feeding of the young 

 after they were hatched. The whole account, however, should 

 be read. Commencing from the very start every episode is 

 chronicled, the mating, the love-song and dance, in which the 



