WHYDAHS. 



187 



seemed always to select a Haitz cage for breeding 

 imrposi'f . I never succeeded in rearing any young ; in 

 fact the hens j;enerally died e^jj-bound, sometimes with 

 the second egg, which -was doubly irriUiting. 



Rksplendknt Whydaii {Viilua hiz/joc/icriiia). 



Glossy steel-blue ; wingcoverts black, edged with 

 greenish blue ; primary-coverts brown ; flights black 

 with whitish edges; innermost secondaries glossed with 

 steel-blue ; tail black ; inner webs of feathers edged 

 with whitish at extremities; long central feathers 

 greenish ; a few greyish-white feathers on flanks ; a 

 large whit<> patch below wings at sides of liack ; under 

 wingcoverts and axillaries also white; fligiits below 

 greyish, white along inner webs; beak and feet dusky; 

 irides dark brown : in winter said to resemble the 

 female, but proliably larger and darker. Female al)Ove 

 generally mottltyl deep Inown with broad rufescent 

 Duflish borders to tlio featliers ; some of the median 

 coverts Ixirdered and the primaries narrowly edged 

 with whit^* ; tail-ft-alhers similar; head with centre of 

 crown reddish IjulT bounded on e;ich side by a broad 

 black hand from beak 'o nape ; a broad white eyebrow- 

 stripe washed with reddish buff at its extremities; 

 cheeks and ear-coverts of the same colour, but the 

 latter surmounted by a black streak; under surface 

 white, suffused with reddish buff at the sides of breast 

 and abdomen, the litter also with brown sbaft-stripes : 

 beak and feet i>ale brown; irides brown. Hab., Ugogo 

 to Souialiland and Southern Abyssinia. 



According to Shelley (" 15irds of Africa," Vol. IV., 

 Part 1, p. 15), Fischer '' found these birds in flocks of 

 from ten to thirty in company with Lai/onofticta 

 briitineirt px and Vidua frrena feeding on the bare 

 ground, where caravans had halted and left scattered 

 corn behind. In Snmaliland Mr. Hawker saw these 

 birds only at Arabsiyo and Hargeisa ; at the latter 

 phT-e they joined in flocks with other Finches on the 

 ■ jowari ' stubbles." This is all I have found respecting 

 th? wild life. 



In captivity this AVhydah is often called the " Long- 

 teiled Combasou." As already stated, Jlr. FuUjames was 

 the owner of a beautiful example in 1898. and it has 

 Tjeen exhibit^-d at the London Zoological Gardens, but 

 it has never been a common species in the bird-market. 

 Dr. Russ does not include it in his work. 



Pin T.Mi.Kn Whtd.^h {Vidua princi/jalis).' 

 The male in full colour has the top of the head, chin, 

 and back, a short band running forwards on each side 

 on to the chest, and the tail greenish black; wings 

 black, with a broad band of white running across the 

 coverts, the larger coverts edged with buff; the throat, 

 a narrow ring running round the bick of the neck; 

 the breast, belly, and under tail-coverts white; beak, 

 coral red : iris of eye, dark brown ; legs, reddish 

 brown. The female above is mottled brown and black ; 

 on the head are six blackish stripes intersected by 

 brown stripes, dotted with dark brown, excepting in the 

 region of the eye ; the under parts are whiti.sh stained 

 on the flanks with tawny. Hab., Africa south of about 

 17 deg. N. Lat., also the islands of St. Thomas and 

 Fernando Po. (Shelley.) 



In its native country this species is seen, either in 

 pairs or in small floclis ; it visits Damara and Great 

 Namaqualand tluring tlie rainy season; in it^ wild state 

 it feeds on various grass-seeds. 



vStark ("Birds of South Africa," Vol. I., p. 147) 

 obsei'ves that " in addition to its wide range, this 



' Shelley liaa substituted the name serena for principalis 

 because it was printed on rape .312 and principalis on page 

 313 of the " Systema Naturjv." Strictly speaking he is correct In 

 doing 80, but it seems a pity where both names were published 

 fiimultaneously to upset the one which is best known. 



species of Widow Bird, in South Africa, every^vhere 

 largely outnumbers its congeners, and in many district* 

 is a very common bird. Durin" autumn and wint«r 

 they occasionally collect in very liirgc flocks, freijuently 

 mingled with those of the smaller Weavers and Wax- 

 bills. In summer they disperse in smaller parties, each 

 consisting of a single male and from ten to forty or 

 even fifty females. The Pin-tail Widow Bird is much 

 more lively and active in its movements than are the 

 two other S]j«cies of the genus, and the cock is, not- 

 withstanding his long tail, an excellent flier. As Ayies 

 remarks, " During the breeding season, when the won- 

 derful tail of the c<Hk bird is fully developed, be will 

 sometimes rise until nearly out of sight, when ho 

 suddenly descends with much velocity, and if approached 

 makes off with ease and swiftness." The same gentle- 

 man writes, " The male of this species has a curious 

 habit of hovering over his mate when she is feeding on 

 the ground, bobbing up and down as you fee the Mayflies 

 and Midges do on a summer's evening in England. 

 This exercise he genei'ally continues .some minut-es with- 

 out resting." Like the other Widow Birds the pre.sent 

 species feeds upon small seeds, principally grass-seeds, 

 also upon small insects and their eggs. Its ordinary 

 call-note is a sharp chirp, but in spi-ing the male utters 

 a soft warbling sonir from the top of a busli or tall 

 weed. In Natal this species breeds during the wet 

 .season, from November to the end of February or 

 beginning of March. A .somewhat ojienly woven 

 domed nest of tine grass is suspended between the 

 stems of a thick grass tuft a few inches off the groun<l, 

 the ends of the growing grass being tied together over 

 the nest so as to com])letely conce il it. The only nests 

 that I have seen contained young birds, from three to 

 four in number. The eggs have not been described." 



Capt. Shelley says " Birds of Africa," Vol, IV., 

 Part 1, p. 19) : " The egg is glossy greyish white, with 

 underlying violet marks and clear black or dark brown 

 elongated surface-marks evenly distributed. It measures 

 O.OS^by 0.60." 



In the Journal of the South African Ornithologists' 

 Union, 2nd Ser., Vol. I., pp. 9-11, is a paper by Mr. 

 Austin Roberts, in which he concludes that the Pin- 

 tailed Whydah does not build its own nest, but is 

 parasitic upon the various Waxbills, devouring one or 

 more of their eggs and substituting its own eggs for 

 them. From what he .says, it is evident that the larger 

 eggs which frequently occur with those of the normal 

 size in the ne.sts of Waxbills are pure white, whereas 

 the egg described by Captain Shelley, without any 

 note of doubt, as thr.t of the Pin-tailed Whydah, is 

 nothing of the kind. I must confess that I consider 

 Mr. Roberts' notes far from conclusive. Other Why- 

 dahs build their own nests and lay spotted eggs p 

 therefore why, on the strength of the statements of 

 negroes, the discovery of eggs of two sizes in the nests 

 of Waxbills and the fact that 1". prinripalis. like 

 many other birds, is an egg-stealer, should we come to 

 so improbable a conclusion as that this bird alone 

 among the Whydahs has the instincts of a Cuckoo or a 

 Cowbird? 



In an aviary I have found this Whydah unbearable 

 when in breeding plumage, though quiet at other times ; 

 with its long tail it looks much larger than it actually 

 is, and its evolutions are so rapid that when flying it 

 resembles a winged tadpole rather than a bird : being 

 certainlv polygamous by nature, as nearly all the 

 Whydalis or Widow-birds are. it no sooner spies a hen 

 of any Weaver feeding quietly than it darts per- 

 pendicularly downwards from its branch. like an arrow 

 from a bow, and as it nears the unsuspecting little 

 thing it gives a squeak, as if hurt, and the two roll 



