Finches. 2 1 3 



from vegetable fibres and cotton-down ; one compart- 

 ment of the two into which it is divided only holding 

 the eggs, the other forming a seat for the male. His 

 song is low and melancholy. 



The DOMINICAN, usually called the PIN-TAILED 

 WHYDAH ( Vidua principalis or serenci) is a smaller and 

 more slender bird, with a red beak and black and white 

 plumage when in full dress in August and September ; 

 his four long tail-feathers are narrow and pointed, and 

 two are convex, and two concave, and fall within the 

 others, so that the bird sometimes appears to have only 

 two long feathers in his tail. When in full plumage 

 he is said to be a great tyrant in the aviary. A lady 

 who has one now tells me he sings very sweetly. 

 There is another Whydah Bird called the SHAFT- 

 TAILED WHYDAH (Vidua regia\ the Queen Whydah, 

 rather larger than the Dominican, with beautiful brown 

 and black plumage, and red beak and feet, and four 

 long tail-feathers standing apart from each other; 

 mentioned by Bechstein as being kept in aviaries, but 

 it is scarcely ever brought to Europe now. The LONG- 

 TAILED WHYDAH ( Vidua Caffra) is more frequently 

 met with. It is a larger bird, nearly as large as a 

 Starling, black, with orange-red and white shoulders, 

 and an immensely long tail, curved like that of a Barn- 

 door Fowl. It is sometimes called the "Caffrarian 

 Finch." 



The WEAVER BIRDS proper resemble the Whydahs 



