126 THE WORLD'S BIRDS. 



breeding male a pink or straw-yellow head and breast, 

 usually with black mask. 



The " Bishops " (Pyronielana) are remarkable for 

 the rich red and yellow of the full- dressed males, set 

 off by velvety black ; several are commonly caged. 

 The male Whydahs, in addition to displaying much 

 black and often some red, in the male's breeding plumage, 

 are noteworthy for the excessively long tail carried at 

 that time. The most generally known in its own African 

 haunts, though not so commonly caged as some others, 

 is the Giant Whydah, or SakabuUa (Cher a procne), as 

 large as a lark, with the full-dressed male black, with 

 a tail a foot long. 



The Mannikins, Nuns and Waxbills are small, 

 highly sociable species, often very beautifully coloured. 

 The only one which changes its plumage is the Avadavat 

 (SporcBginthus amandava) of India and eastwards, long 

 a familiar cage-bird. It is of the size of a Wren, the 

 breeding male wine-red, with small white spots. The 

 Cordon-bleu (Estrelda phcenicotis) is very well known in 

 Africa ; it is but little larger than the last, and fawn 

 and pale-blue in colour. The best known of this group 

 is, however, an unusually large species, the Java 

 Sparrow (Munia oryzivora), about as big as the true 

 Sparrow, lavender-grey, with large rosy bill and black- 

 and-white head. It is a very old cage-bird, and there 

 is a white domestic breed. This group of birds, indeed, 

 supplies a greater number of cage species than any 

 other, and several breed regularly in captivity, and others 

 occasionally, such as the splendid Gouldian Finch 

 (Poephila mirabilis) of North Australia, of the size of a 

 tit, green, with violet breast, yellow belly and black 

 or red head. 



Wood-hewers (Dendrocolaptince) , which replace the 

 Creepers and Nuthatches in South America, show 

 the climbing type of Passerine foot, with the short 

 inner and long outer toe, in its highest perfection ; 



