26o Whydahs. 



Ei)ibcrba paiiayciisis. Gm. 1788. I'oitiicvia paiiaycnsis (licht. 



1854)- 

 Vidua Icnocinia. Lesson. 1831. 

 ridna torqiiata. Lesson. 1837. 

 I'idiia ritbritorqiics. Sw. 1837. I'cuihctria rubriturqucs (Bp. 



1850). 

 Pcnthcna (" i'enthetria " /Sh.j auric ullis. J.>iclit. 1854. 

 Pentlictria hartlaubi. Cab (nee Boc.) 1883. 



References. Butler. F.*F. 290. Plate, d. ?. Singv. 61. 

 PI. 26. Sh. iv. 40. B.S.A. i. 147. Butler, i. 189. Russ. i. 216. 

 Svv. i. 174. 



Range. S.E. Africa. E. 'Africa to Victoria Nyanza. S.W. 

 Africa, R. Congo to Damaraland. 



Specimens of this species are often found in which the 

 red of the throat is replaced by yellow or orange. This variation 

 is not in the same category as that found in the preceding all- 

 black C. conculor, where a whole race occupying a certain 

 definite area is affected, but is an instance of that individual 

 colour-variation to which the Whydahs as a whole, as well as 

 some of the Weavers, seem particularly liable. Such variations 

 do not indicate any specific difference, but are merely individual 

 aberrations, probably depending, as Captain Shelley says, to 

 some extent upon the constitution of the individual bird being 

 affected by the change in the flora and insect fauna of the large 

 area over which they are distributed. 



The Red-collared Whydah was bred in captivity first in 

 1909, but no details are available about that event ; see B.N. 1909 

 p. 257. In B.N. for 1915 a recent success is described (p. 239) by 

 Mr. Shore Baily, who also succeeded in the following year in 

 breeding" a hybrid between this Whydah and a Crimson-crowned 

 Bishop, (Pyyoniclana fla))ii}iicc[>s), the male parent being the 

 Bishop. See B.N. 1916. p. 237. 



Descriptions of the nests and eggs are given in some of 



the authorities cited, but the fullest I find is a more recent one 



in the Ibis for 1907. p. 40. This, which is by Mr. Swynnerton 



and refers to Southern Rhodesian birds, is as follows: " The 



" nests are placed three feet or so from the ground in long 



" grass or weeds, and are built entirely of grass, the 



" finest portions consisting of the heads stripped of their seeds 



