102 Crimson-Eared Waxbill x Cordon Bleu Hybrids.


will at once attack the carcass. If the Vultures are in large numbers

they will not venture near, but will sit and await their chance of a

tit-bit, or wait until only the bones are left, and then they will take

what remains. Possibly an old hyaena, very hungry, will be tempted

to move in daylight, but his slinking approach is very different from

that of the jackal: he seems to feel that he is a creature of the night,

for he comes along, taking all the cover he can, till he sees the feast,

when he will hurry up to it, and, driving off the Vultures, set to

work ; even then he is very nervous, and constantly looks round for

a possible enemy. Should he manage to get a large piece of meat,

he will even retire to the nearest cover with it; one can see it is

against his instincts to be abroad in the daytime.


The quick arrival of the Vultures on the scene is explained by

the way in which they quarter the skies so high that the human eye

cannot see them ; yet with their No. 12 Zeiss-power eyesight they

can see all that goes on over a big area. The sick or wounded buck

is seen by one Vulture, and he drops towards it. From north, south,

east and west other birds sail in towards the same point, and so the

circle spreads until hundreds of birds are at the kill. The collection

of hyaenas at the feast must work out something on the same lines.

Every hyaena has its own regular round, which is followed night after

night, and, as he travels, his howl notifies His neighbours as to his

movements. Should he find a kill his howls cease, and I have no

doubt that this is quite enough to bid his friends to the feast.


This is, of course, if a kill is fresh. If a kill is a day or two

old, which only happens when a beast has died in thick bush, and

out of sight of the Vultures, it will of its own accord notify everything

down wind for a big distance ; or the track of a sick or wounded beast

will attract every meat-eater that crosses it.



BREEDING OF CRIMSON-EARED WAXBILL

x CORDON BLEU HYBRIDS.


By A. Decoux.


In 1917 I vainly tried to breed hybrids from a male Violet¬

eared Waxbill and a female Cordon Bleu. The cock paired perfectly



