40



Melanism in Wliydahs.



The Falls don’t pour down in one great body of water as

you might think ; they are broken up by clumps of trees which

are covered with the nests of Weaver Birds. The nests hang down,

as I told you before, as if they were attached to long strings. They

sway about like flowers. I never see them without wishing that

you were here; they are so fascinating. They looked even more

graceful and beautiful hanging over the Falls than they did by the

banks of the Nzoia River on the Plateau.


On the branch of a tall tree on one bank of the Nile a big

Fish Eagle sat like a sentinel, waiting to pounce on its prey. It

caught more fish while I sat there than any fisherman we ever

watched for hours on the banks of the Thames. When it

pounced down and stretched out its wings it measured about

six feet across. Down in the swirling water there were hundreds

of fish playing about and jumping high in the air like salmon, and

glistening in the sun.


At its beginning the Nile swirls over shallows, and forms

eddies, and flows round green islands, until you lose sight of it in

the tropical jungle. I couldn’t see what it did after that. You can

only walk down one side of its bank for about a mile to what is

called the Hippo Pool. Sometimes the hippos leave their pool

and take a stroll over the golf course, and invade the gardens of

the inhabitants.



MELANISM IN WHYDAHS.


By Dr. Y. G. L. Van Someren.


Can any member tell me why birds should become melanistic

when in captivity ?


It is of frequent occurrence in birds in my aviaries,

particularly amongst various Whydahs.


Jackson’s Whydahs, which have been in captivity for three

years, are now jet black, having lost the yellowish patch on the

bend of the wing and all trace of the sandy edges to the wing

feathers. When moulting from the breeding dress to the “ off



