WEAVERS. 



193 



When not breeding, millet, canary, and a few cock- 

 roaches or mealworms are sufficient to keep Weavers 

 in health ; but they are not particular in their seed 

 diet, eating oats, hemp, sesamum, sunflower, and other 

 seeds, but they do not care for German rape, and will 

 only take it when nothing else remains in the pan. 



As usual I shall commence my account of this group 

 of handsome birds with Pyromelana, the genus of Fire 

 Weavers. 



When first imported the Fire Weavers (sometimes 

 called " Bishops ") generally assume their breeding 

 plumage rather late in the year, and the approach of 

 cold weather may not only shorten the season of beauty 

 during the first year of captivity, but I have even seen 

 the bright colouring, before it had entirely reached its 

 perfect development, gradually fade again from the 

 plumage, leaving the bird as before. The greater part 

 of the change to the wedding dress is, indeed, not pro- 

 duced by a moult, but by a growth of colour in the 

 feathers themselves. The upper tail-coverts, which 

 are short in the season of retirement, and the flank- 

 feathers towards the hinder end of the body are always 

 moulted out to make room for the long and delicate 

 plumes which often envelop the tail. In some species, 

 also, additional feathers are developed on the crown ; 

 but, undoubtedly, most of the plumage changes in tint 

 day by day until it attains its full brilliance. After 

 the breeding season is completed a moult takes place, 

 and the males appear in the dress of their hens, from 

 which their somewhat better defined and richer mark- 

 ings and their superior size alone serve then to dis- 

 tinguish them. 



YKLLOW- SHOULDERED WEAVER (Pyromelana capensis). 



The male, in breeding plumage, is velvety black, 

 with dark brown wings and a bright yellow lower back, 

 which is well seen when the bird is flying. 



The female, like that of most Weavers, has much 

 the character of a Sedge Warbler, excepting in its 

 beak, and is not unlike a small washed-out Corn Bunt- 

 ing in pattern. The male in winter plumage resembles 

 the hen, but is larger. Bab., Cape Colony. 



Dr. Stark (" Birds of South Africa," Vol. I., pp. 131, 

 132) thus describes the habits: "This large Bishop 

 bird is nearly everywhere common in the Western 

 Colony, and although it seems to prefer the vicinity 

 of marshy vleis or streams, it may be frequently found 

 in very dry and arid tracts of country. The male in 

 spring and summer is fond of uttering his harsh notes 

 from the top of a tall bush or reed, and is then very 

 conspicuous in his contrasting glossy black and yellow 

 plumage. The female at this season is not often seen, 

 keeping much to thick reed-beds or bushes, even when 

 not sitting on her eggs. In autumn the old birds of 

 both sexes, together with their young, form consider- 

 able flocks, which do not separate until the following 

 spring. The long, loose, yellow feathers on the lower 

 back and rump of the breeding male are erectile, and 

 when the bird is approaching a hen, or is excited, they 

 stand out at right angles to the body, giving him an 

 extraordinary appearance, apparently irresistible to the 

 impressionable female. The song consists of a series 

 of harsh and discordant notes. Although these birds 

 feed largely on grass-seeds or grain, and are accused 

 hy farmers of working havoc with the crops, they 

 devour a considerable number of insects, and feed their 

 young on small caterpillars and grubs. 



Individuals that I have kept in confinement readily 

 devoured nearly all the insects presented to them, 

 showing a preference for mealworms or caterpillars. 

 This s.pecies nests in September or October. The nest, 

 a domed structure with a side entrance, is woven out 



of fine grass, and is usually attached by its sides to 

 three or four reed-stems ; sometimes it is built in 

 thick bushes at a height of four or five feet. The 

 eggs, almost always four in number, have a pale green- 

 ish-blue ground colour, nearly concealed by spots, 

 blotches, and lines of dark brown or slate colour. 

 They average 0.85 in. by 0.60 in., and are hatched in 

 about fourteen days." 



On page 131 Mr. W. L. Sclater confirms my state- 

 ment as to the change of colour in many of the feathers 

 of Pyromelana on the assumption of the summer 

 plumage. He says: "The change of plumage from 

 the winter to the summer dress in the male is very 

 gradual, lasting, near Cape Town, from about the 

 middle of July to the middle of September. Only the 

 feathers of the lower back, rump, and flanks, are 

 entirely changed by a moult, the remaining plumage 

 and bill becoming darker, owing to a gradual absorp- 

 tion of colouring matter, the change first appearing 

 at the point of the lower mandible. In autumn the 

 colour is gradually reabsorbed if the feathers are not 

 previously moulted. According to Dr. Butler (The Ibis, 

 1897, p. 359), other species of Pyromelana change from 

 their winter to spring dress in much the same manner." 

 According to Dr. Russ this is the easiest of all the 

 Fire Weavers to persuade to breed in captivity. It is 

 tolerably frequently imported, and, but for dts some- 

 what quarrelsome disposition and powerful beak, would 

 doubtless be a common and cheap bird in the market, 

 but there is no great demand for it. Herr Wiener 

 (" Cassell's Cage Birds," p. 409), says that he found it . 

 " quarrelsome beyond endurance," " hard-biting," and 

 capable of committing havoc among shrubs planted in 

 the aviary, "from sheer mischief." On account of its 

 size I have never purchased this species, as I feared 

 it might be dangerous if kept with the smaller Weavers, 

 and at any rate would probably alarm them. 



GOLDEN-BACKED WEAVER (Pyromelana aurea). 



Above golden yellow ; scapulars black edged with 

 tawny ; feathers of lower rump fringed at the ends 

 with black ; wings black ; median coverts edged with 

 white, and the greater coverts with tawny ; flights 

 with huffish margins ; upper tail-coverts brown, mixed 

 with black-tipped yellow feathers ; tail black, the 

 feathers with brown margins ; the outer ones tipped 

 with white ; head, sides of neck and under surface 

 black ; lower flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts 

 white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries huffish ; 

 flights below brown, whitish along inner webs ; beak 

 blackish ; feet and irides brown. Female and winter 

 plumage of male undescribed. Haib., "Island of St. 

 Thomas and probably ranges from Gaboon into Ben- 

 guela " (Shelley). 



Nothing appears to be known respecting the wild life 

 of this species. Two specimens were presented to the 

 London Zoological Gardens in January, 1890. 



NAPOLEON WEAVER (Pyromelana afra). 



The cock is a lovely bird when in breeding plumage, 

 the prevailing colour being brilliant chrome yellow ; 

 but the cheeks and chin are occupied by a large patch 

 of black which encloses the eye. The nape of the neck, 

 hind chest, and belly are also velvety black ; the wings 

 and tail brown j beak black, the legs flesh coloured ; 

 irides brown. 



The female much resembles a Sedge Warbler in 

 colouring and general pattern ; it has almost as dis- 

 tinct an eyebrow streak as the Paradise Whydah hen. 

 In summer plumage the colouring brightens ; the 

 streak over the eye becoming yellow ; it then nearly 

 resembles the male in winter plumage, but it Ja a 



