Dr. E. Hopkinson — The Yellow -backed Whydah 135


forms part of the ordinary sexual display. While I consider this

species to he quite the most charming and attractive of the Cardinals,

I find it extremely pugnacious for its size, especially as might be

expected when. breeding. It is fond, like its larger relative the Red-

crest, of hotly pursuing smaller and weaker birds, whose every twist

and turn it will follow, being very rapid and dexterious on the wing.

I believe this practice is indulged in more for the sport of the thing

and as a form of exercise than anything else, but still I personally would

not dream of confining the species with any of the smaller Finches or

Waxbills. It agrees quite well with the Red-crested and Green

Cardinals, which mostly ignore it, but in my experience cannot be

safely enclosed with Pope Cardinals.


Rearing. — For the first three days the young birds were fed entirely

upon a diet of green fly, long-legged spiders, and small caterpillars.

After this the menu was gradually modified, until after the first week

they were entirely on a diet of hard-boiled egg and tea-biscuit,

supplemented with a few mealworms supplied every three hours

throughout the day. It would, however, be probably possible to

raise them entirely on the latter diet if supplied with discretion. In

my experience the most dangerous period for young birds (insectivorous)

is just after they have left the nest, when they almost always seem to

be attacked by diarrhoea in a greater or lesser degree. Why this

should be so is a mystery to me, but I have found that powdered

cuttle-fish sprinkled over the egg-food tends to lessen the danger.

This idea was given to me some years back by my Red-vented Bulbuls,

which T noticed always used to give cuttle-fish liberally to their young,

when the latter were about 6 or 7 days old, and these birds

hardlv ever lost a chick.



THE YELLOW-BACKED WHYDAH


(Coliuspasser macrourus (Gm.) )


By Dr. E. Hopkinson


This bird is a native of Tropical Africa, ranging through West

(Senegambia to Angola), Equatorial, and Mast Africa. The Gambia

must be very near the northern limit of its western range, and here



