TYPICAL WEAVERS. 



197 



River eastward into the Bongo country and the Zan- 

 zibar district south from the Tana River." (Shelley.) 



In his " Birds of Africa," Vol. IV., Part I., pp. 118, 

 119, Captain Shelley says: "In Liberia Mr. Biitti- 

 kofer found it in company with other small birds in the 

 bushes at Bendo, near Fischerman's Lake, at Schieffel- 

 insville, and by the Farmington River, feeding on 

 grass-seeds and visiting the ricefields when the grain 

 was ripening. While I was on the Gold Coast with 

 T. E. Buckley we found the species abundant in the 

 open country near Accra. 



" On Prince's Island Dr. Dohrn and Mr. Keulemans 

 saw them in flocks of twenty to eighty individuals, 

 usually in company with Spermestes cucullatus. 



" The egg is described by Mr. Kuschel as oval in 

 form, olive green with dusky spots and a slight gloss, 

 and measures 0.73 by 0.55." 



Dr. Russ says that this species in its entire demeanour, 

 breeding habits, and even in its cry schnlc, resembles the 

 Red-billed Weaver. W. Mieth, of Berlin, first received 

 a number of specimens of this Weaver in 1869, which 

 he had just bought from a ship which had arrived from 

 Africa. The birds were out of colour, but nevertheless, 

 as a newly imported species, were sold at the price of 

 24 marks for a pair. 



It first reached the London Zoological Gardens in 

 1871, since which time a good many examples have 

 found a home there. Russ says that, in the course of 

 years, he has twice bred this species in his birdrcom. 



CHAPTER XV. 



TYPICAL WEAVERS. 



(Ploceince). 



Whether tihese birds have been evolved from the 

 Viduine Weavers, or have descended in an independent 

 line from the Sparrows, it is impossible to say ; the 

 greater density of their nests, which are often formed like 

 retorts or inverted. snail-shells, seems to separate them 

 rather widely from the Viduine Weavers, and the fact 

 that Passer arcuatus not only builds in communities, 

 but constructs a Weaver-like nest, seems to hint at the 

 possibility of their derivation from the Sparrows. I 

 note that in his " Birds of Africa," Captain Shelley places 

 Passer and Petronia at the end of the Fringillidce, and 

 immediately before the Ploceidce,. Both Passer and the 

 Ploceince. have the bastard primary well developed as 

 compared with their allies. 



SCALY-FRONTED WEAVER (Sporoplpes squamlfrons). 



Above ashy-brown ; median and greater coverts and 

 bastard-wing black, broadly bordered with white ; 

 primary-coverts and flights dark brown, more ashy on 

 outer margins ; the secondaries with broad white bor- 

 ders ; tail-feathers black, with broad white borders ; 

 crown black, with grey brownish margins to the feathers, 

 whiter on forehead ; lores and orbital feathers black ; 

 sides of head greyish-brown ; a white moustachial 

 stripe ; chin and a streak on each side of throat black ; 

 throat, white ; breast, sides, and flanks, buffish ; abdo- 

 men rather paler ; thighs and under tail-coverts, white ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries. pale grey ; flights 

 dusky, dull buffish on inner margins'; beak flesh-pink, 

 darker on culmen and at tip ; feet pale brown ; irides 

 red. Female similar, but smaller. Hab., Southern 

 Africa to the south of the Quanza and Zambesi Rivers 

 (Shelley). 



Stark ("Birds of South Africa," Vol. L, pp. 87, 88) 

 says : " These pretty little Weaver birds are very abund- 

 ant on the banks of the Orange River in small flocks 

 among the bushes and mimosa trees that fringe the 



banks of the river. Although they perch freely on 

 bushes, they appear to obtain all their food, consisting 

 of grass seeds and small insects, from the ground. They 

 are active and vivacious little birds, of quarrelsome dis- 

 positions, and somewhat noisy when feeding, as they 

 keep up a constant bickering with one another. They 

 are very tame and fearless, frequenting the houses and 

 kraals to feed among the poultry and Sparrows. In 

 winter they generally join the flocks of Waxbills and 

 Finches. The nest is always built in a thorny bush at a 

 height of from three to ten feet. It is an untidy-looking 

 domed structure of irregular shape, artlessly woven out 

 of grass with the stalks left projecting in all directions. 

 The side entrance is concealed either by the bristling 

 stalks of grass, or by a handful of grass placed im the 

 bush in .front of it. The interior of the nest is thickly 

 lined, sometimes with feathers, at others with the down 

 of various plants. 



" On the Orange River these Weavers build in March 

 and April, on the Limpopo in June and July. 



" The eggs, four or five in number, vary in shape and 

 colour ; the ground-colour is pale blue-green, this is 

 thickly marked with blotches and scrawls of brown and 

 rufous. The eggs measure about 0.65 by 0.48." 



Russ says : " Hitherto this bird has only been once 

 imported, in the possession of Messrs. Linden." He 

 overlooked the fact that it had been exhibited in the 

 London Zoological Society's Gardens ; he regarded 

 Sporoplpes as a genus of Sparrows. 

 SPECKLED-FRONTED WEAVER (Sporopipes frontalis). 

 Above pale brown ; scapulars and wing-coverts with 

 still paler borders ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and 

 flights dark-brown with paler edges, the inner secon- 

 daries with whity-brown borders like the wing-coverts ; 

 tail-feathers similar ; forehead black with small white 

 tips to the feathers ; hind-crown, nape and sides of 

 neck pale cinnamon, the hind-crown with black shaft- 

 streaks ; on front of cheeks a moustachial black streak 

 dotted with white ; under parts white ; breast, sides 

 and flanks pale ashy brown ; under wing-coverts pale 

 ashy edged with whitish ; flights below dusky with 

 buffish inner edges ; beak and feet pale yellowish horn- 

 colour ; irides deep brown. Female similar, but smaller. 

 Hab., Senegambia to Abyssinia and southward to 

 Ugogo. 



I quote the following notes from Shelley's " Birds of 

 Africa," Vol. IV., Part II., pp. 301-2 :" According to 

 Heuglin these Weavers are abundant in North-east 

 Africa to as far north as 17 deg. N. lat., and in the 

 warmer parts of the Abyssinian coast. They were 

 beginning to breed in Bogos in September, and he 

 found the young able to fly when he visited Kordofan 

 in November. The nest is large and oval, generally 

 placed in the centre of a most impenetrable thorn-bush. 

 It is constructed of dry grass, with a small centre 

 chamber well lined with feathers, hair, roots and wool. 

 During the breeding season they live in pairs, and 

 frequent the open country where there are trees for 

 them to nest in, but as autumn sets in they assemble in 

 large flocks, which alight like Sparrows on the roof of 

 houses or in the stubble-fields and pasture-land, and 

 retire to roost in the high trees near water. Their 

 call-note is a chirp, but their song, though weak, re- 

 sembles that of our Goldfinch. The eggs, according to 

 Emin, are of a greyish green colour, with darker 

 lengthened blotches, which blotches, Mr. Kuschel in- 

 forms us, sometimes spread over the whole surface and 

 give them a uniform appearance ; they measure on an 

 averaee 0.64 by 0.48." 



" Mr. Jackson . . . writes : ' Found breeding in 

 an acacia. Makes a large nest of dry grass, not unlike 

 that of our common Sparrow.' " 



