264 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



I purchased it, until the end of June 1894, when it assumed the hen 

 plumage, just as other examples were coming into colour : later in the 

 year it died. 



It is highly probable, that young males in undress colouring, are 

 often ticketed as females, and those which Dr. Sharpe notes as having 

 the vent " more fulvescent " may, perhaps, belong to the male sex ; 

 but, without seeing a series of both sexes in winter plumage, it would 

 be unsafe to dogmatize on this point. One thing is certain the 

 Combasou is unquestionably a Whydah, not an Ornamental Finch. 

 This is proved by its change of plumage, the coloration of its hen, 

 its harsh chattering song, its method of courtship, and its habit of 

 scratching in the food-pan when feeding : in one respect it approaches 

 the Ornamental Finches, it lays white eggs, in nests built in holes. 



Von Heuglin describes this as " One of the most abundant 

 resident birds, and * * * here almost exclusively an inhabitant of 

 human settlements, in common with Lagonosticta minima. Altogether 

 a sprightly, and innocent little creature, which even comes into the 

 interior of the houses, and there seeks for grain, bread-crumbs and 

 other waste food, or quenches its thirst at the water receptacles. The 

 change of colour, of the males to the breeding-plumage, occurs with 

 the commencement of the rainy-season. Usually only a few pairs 

 make their home in one and the same farm-building ; these birds also 

 prefer the clay huts of the Nubians to the straw habitations (Toqul) 

 of the Soudanese. The song is not specially remarkable, the call- 

 note a very sharp and somewhat harsh chirp. 



" According to Brehm the Ultramarine Finch plunders the Durah 

 fields in flocks together with the Fire Finches, and its breeding-season 

 occurs in the months of January and March."* 



" The nest is placed upon any kind of tree, and consists of dry 

 grass-stems. We never met with this bird in very large crowds, it is 

 extremely voracious, and destroys a good many ears of negro-millet, 

 also crams itself on barn-floors and even with camels and horses as its 

 hosts. I found nests during the months of July to the beginning of 

 September under rafters of roofs, in gable-ends and holes in walls. 

 They consist, like those of the House- Sparrow, of a large, but, never- 

 theless, orderly, heap of straw-stalks, rags, cotton, feathers and the 

 like : and the nest depression is delicately lined with hairs, threads, 

 &c. There is no doubt that it has several broods. The Steel Finch 

 also appears to appropriate the deserted nests of Swallows. The usual 



* The ' Bishop ' Weavers are called Fire Finches by many, and these are evidently intended 

 by Von Heugliu. A.G.B. 



