TYPICAL WEAVERS. 



205 



.generally two in number, three in a few ; and in one 

 nest I found five." 



Hume ("Nests and Eggs," Vol. II., p. 124) says: 

 " The eggs of this species seem to average slightly 

 smaller than those of P. Itatja, but in every othei 

 respect they are precisely similar." 



As previously stated, 1 had two Manyah Weavers for 

 some years ; they were both cocks, and although they 

 built many nests, they seemed quite unable to complete 

 them without the assistance of a hen ; the cup was 

 never added, nor the entrance tube. 



Canary, millet, and oats are suitable seeds for this 

 and the" preceding black and yellow species, but they 

 will eat many other seeds, although they do not care 

 for rape. They are all absolutely hardy and long-lived, 

 but a few insects help in keeping them vigorous. 



MADAGASCAR WEAVER (Foudia madagascariensis). 



In its breeding plumage the male is brilliant scarlet, 

 the feathers of the back, of the lesser and median 

 wing-coverts with black centres ; flights and tail 

 feathers black with brown borders ; a black loral 

 streak extending to behind the eye ; beak black ; feet 

 flesh-coloured ; iris brown. The female is dull brown ; 

 the feathers of the upper surface, excepting on the 

 rump, black centred ; those of the head and neck less 

 distinctly than the others; wing and tail feathers 

 blackish with pale olive-brown margins ; a well-defined 

 pale eye-brow streak and a dusky line along the upper 

 ear-coverts ; under parts somewhat yellowish, whiter 

 behind, flanks indistinctly streaked. Hab., Madagas- 

 car, Reunion, Mauritius, and many of the Seychelles 

 islands. It has been introduced into St. Helena, where 

 it has so increased as to have become troublesome. 



M. Grandidier states that the breeding plumage is 

 assumed in October, when the colour of the bill in the 

 male changes from brown to black. The species does 

 not frequent forests, but is otherwise distributed over 

 Madagascar, and as soon as the breeding season is over, 

 the birds assemble in large flocks to feed in the rice 

 fields. " They do not breed in colonies, but in separate 

 trees, and lay four or five eggs, which are of a pale 

 bluish green and measure on an average 0.76 by 0.52." 



Pollen describes the nest ae " pear-shaped, with 

 lateral entrance-hole, made of fine grasses, plaited 

 between two or four branches of acacia, mimosa, 

 tamarisk, etc., sometimes also in a reed-thicket. 

 Lafresnayes, on the other hand, figures the nest of a 

 longish round shape and suspended between thin twigs." 

 (Shelley, "Birds of Africa," Vol. IV.. Part 2, p. 490.) 



Dr. Russ, who first bred the species, speaks of the 

 nest as retort- shaped, built by the cock bird, but partly 

 lined bv the hen ; three to six (apparently white) eggs 

 are laid and incubated, for fifteen days. Since Dr. Russ 

 took the lead this beautiful bird appears to have been 



freely bred in Germany ; possibly the mistake made in 

 England may consist in associating other Weavers with 

 it, which Dr. Russ distinctly says must not be done. 



I purchased a pair of this species in 1890, and had a 

 second male and a male of the allied Comoro Weaver 

 given to me about a year later. At first I believed 

 that my friend Mr. Wiener had exaggerated the com- 

 bative propensity of this species, and in 1892 I said 

 as much in one of my articles in The Feathered World, 

 which shows that one should never hesitate to accept 

 without scepticism the evidence of a credible and expe- 

 rienced witness. I have, indeed, never, to my know- 

 ledge, lost any birds through the attack's of the Mada- 

 gascar Weaver, but I have seen not a few of them 

 badly scared at times. 



My Madagascar Weavers, one of which was killed 

 by my Comoro Weaver in 1897. never showed the 

 slightest inclination to build a nest. 



COMORO WEAVER (Foudia eminentissima). 



Male in breeding plumage larger than F. madagascar- 

 iensis and with a more powerful beak, and the feathers 

 of the back, which are scarlet in the common species, 

 are olivaceous in this ; the abdomen and vent of this 

 species are also brownish white, slightly tinged with 

 rose instead of being scarlet. The female is olive- 

 brown, with rather broad blackish streaks on the back ; 

 the median and greater coverts tipped with white. 

 Hab., Comoro Islands. 



Mr. Bewsher obtained this species in the Island 

 of Johanna, where it is common ; it is known to the 

 natives as the " Paramoran " ; he. however, tells us 

 nothing of the wild life beyond the fact that the eggs 

 are pale blue, and measure 0.84 by 0.6. 



It is occasionally imported and sometimes sold as the 

 Madagascar Weaver, to which it bears considerable 

 resemblance. Dr. Russ only possessed one example of 

 this species for a short time, and that was a sickly 

 specimen, so he could say next to nothing about it. 

 My experience is that in voice, manner of fighting, 

 pugnacity, and excitability it resembles the Madagascar 

 bird in every particular. After mv male became a 

 murderer, in 1897, his conduct increased in aggressive- 

 ness, and I had to remove him. I found a net of little 

 use, as he evaded it every time so I had to get a 

 syringe and soak him with water before I could secure 

 him. In a flight cage he was so frantic that after he 

 had cut his face and ruined his plumage, I removed 

 him to an aviarv he, however, died about a month 

 later ; having nothing to torment, he probably con- 

 sidered life no longer worth having. 



Th's concludes the birds of the family Ploreiclce. We 

 shall in the next part have to de:il with the imported 

 species of the family Icteridce. 



