176 



THE FINCHES AND WEAVER lUUDS OF THE SUDAN 



A simple 

 method for 

 preserving 

 specimens 



Eed Sea hills, where the beautiful yellow jilumage of the male makes it a very 



noticeable bird. 



The descriptions of the males given in the last four genera of Weaver Birds apply 

 only to the full breeding plumage. At other times of the year the males almost exactly 

 resemble the females, and the different species are then by no means easy to distinguish. 

 This will be gathered from the similarity in the descriptions of the females. I shall be 

 very glad to identify any destructive birds sent to me with notes as to locality, 

 abundance, and the kind of crops on which they were found feeding. A simple method of 

 preserving them sufficiently well for identification is to pour a few drops of carbolic acid 

 down their throats, and to suspend the birds by a thread through their nostrils until 

 thoroughly dry, when they can be wrapped in paper and packed in a small box. 

 Numbered labels corresponding to any notes should be tied to their legs. 



This paper has extended to a length for which I must beg indulgence, but the 

 number of species dealt with is considerable. I have made the list of our finches as 

 complete as I am able to, and I think it includes all the species which may by any 

 possibility be found to do any kind of damage to grain crops. I have made free use, 

 especially in the first part of the paper dealing with descriptions of the families, sub- 

 families, and genera,, of Captain G. E. Shelley's Birds of Africa, and of the late 

 Dr. A. C. Stark's excellent first volume on Birds in the Fauna of Soiifh Africa series, 

 and in conclusion I must acknowledge mv indebtedness to these writers. 



Additional Note on a Species of Lark 



(Melwiiocor ijpha biin.acidata.) 



DESTRUCTIVE TO RIPENING DURA 



.An instance of 

 grain 



destruction 

 bv larks 



I am surprised to find that in my notes on birds injurious to agriculture ought to 

 have been included the large Eastern Calandra Lark (Me.lanocorijpha himaculata) . 



Until quite lately I was unaware that any kind of Lark did damage to growing grain. 

 Their feet are not sufficiently prehensile to enable them to cling to the upright ears or 

 stalks, and I have never before seen any species hovering against the grain heads and 

 extracting the grain without settling. This I find the Eastern Calandra Lark does. 

 Settling on the ground among the dura it flutters up to the level of an ear and hovers 

 poised against it while it extracts a grain. Having secured one it drops to the ground, 

 swallows it, and iinniodiately flutters up for another. The bird does not settle on the 

 dura at all. 



Vast flocks of this large Lark lately collected on a meagre dura crop between 

 Khartoum and the White Nile, and did a great amount of destruction. I think it would be 

 a low estimate to say that 50 per cent, of the crop was destroyed. In places one could 

 gather hundreds of ears without one single grain left in them. Other birds (Common and 

 Yellow Sparrows, with a few Red-billed Weavers) were also attacking the crop in large 

 numbers, but the dense flights of this big Lark seemed to me to be doing most of the damage. 



Melanocori/pha himaculata is a large handsome Lark with a very strong and finch-like bill. 

 In examining 14 examples lately I found the length of the bird, from point of bill to end of 

 tail, varied from 7 to 1\ inches, the length of wing from 4;^ to 4|, and the greatest 

 expanse across the wings from 13^ to 15| inches. The weight of these birds ranged from 



