PYROMELANA TAHA. 465 
darkens, and thus by degrees the whole bird changes to its splendid 
black. This transformation commences about July, and is complete 
in September, which is the nesting season. The moult back again 
begins in the same manner. ‘This species lives well in cages. I had 
one which had been about six years in confinement, and effected his 
escape after all, from the warping of his cage-bottom, owing to its 
being exposed to the sun after my pet had enjoyed his bath. He 
would come to the cage-bars whenever my wife approached them, 
his long legs drawn out to their full extent, his bright black eye 
glittering even in the midst of his deep black plumage, watching for 
his morsel of bread. On his being addressed as ‘ I'ink,’ he instantly 
replied, stretching his neck to the utmost, and uttering the most 
piercing, discordant shriek. We used to laugh, and say he would 
some day dislocate his neck in his attempts to sing, in rivalry to the 
canaries. After his bath, or when enraged, which was pretty often, 
he would erect the feathers of the back at right angles to his body, 
and then looked beautiful, the light shining through the brilliant 
yellow, setting it off to great advantage. The nest is constructed of 
grasses, and is domed, with an entrance near the centre. The eggs, 
four or five in number, are very pale verditer, thickly marked every- 
where with dark, greenish-brown blotches and spots: axis, 10’’’ ; 
diams,; 7 //?? 
General colour of male in breeding plumage, deep black; the 
feathers of the head and neck short, and so closely set as to resemble 
the richest velvet; rump and shoulders brilliant yellow; wings 
brown. Length, 53’’; wing, 3” 3'’’; tail, 2’’3'’’. “The iris in 
this species is dark brown; the legs and toes straw-brown; the 
upper mandible of the bill dark horn colour, the lower, in some speci- 
mens, of the same colour as the upper, in others of a yellowish- 
white horn colour” (Andersson). 
Fig. Buff. Pl. Enl. 629, fig. 1. 
454, PyromEnana TAHA (Smith). Taha Bishop Bird. 
Ploceus taha, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 184. 
According to Sir Andrew Smith, this species does not extend 
south of the 26th degree, and is said to breed in the reeds which 
skirt the rivers north of that line; they congregate in large flocks 
and are very destructive to cornfields. Captain Harford sent it from 
Natal, and we have seen many other specimens obtained alive near 
24 
: = 
