272 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



tawny buff, abdomen white, tawny buff at the sides, quills below dusky 

 with greyish inner edges ; remainder of under surface white. Length 

 6 inches. 



The male, when out of colour, nearly resembles the female.* The 

 tail-plumes decrease in breadth, but increase in length with age : thus 

 a young male, given to me by Mr. Housden after its death, showed 

 broad plumes measuring only about three inches in length (possibly 

 they had not quite done growing). My own first specimen was a very 

 old bird when it died, as could be seen by the coarse scaling of the 

 claws; its plumes, when dropped in 1889, measured nf inches; in 

 1890 i2 T j inches; in 1891 13! inches; and in 1892, when it died, they 

 appeared to be about the same length, probably their maximum 

 development. 



Although abundant and widely distributed, next to nothing has 

 been published respecting the habits of this species in a wild state : 

 Von Heuglin, however, gives the following meagre information : 

 " They mostly frequent thorny trees and the higher bushes, of which 

 they prefer the bare tops, are not particularly active, fly short distances, 

 and with manifest effort, laboriously dragging after them the heavy 

 tail, not expanding it ; the latter when at rest hangs down almost 

 perpendicularly. The song is remarkable for its monotony, the call- 

 note is a not particularly loud, somewhat flute-like chirp, which is also 

 occasionally heard in flight. Old males, in breeding plumage, seldom 

 descend to the ground ; the females, however, behave in all respects 

 like the Ultramarine Finches. I have been unable to make any 

 observations touching the business of propagation. In autumn we often 

 meet with flocks, which consist entirely of half moulted males, which 

 then, in their manner of starting up and flight, have much in common 

 with Penthetria macroura, but the lively disposition and skill in climbing 

 of the latter, is entirely wanting to them." We thus see that Von 

 Heuglin had little to say about this most charming bird, and nothing 

 to its credit. Dr. Russ, on the other hand, does the Paradise Whydah 

 justice ; he says : " Both in the bird-room and in cages its aspect is 

 noble, and on that account the Paradise Whydah Finch, the universally 

 so-called Paradise Widow, is unusually beloved and treasured." 



Further on, Dr. Russ observes : " A pair of Paradise Whydah 

 Finches, in grey plumage, are conspicuously quiet birds, and sensitive 

 to adverse influences. As soon as the beak of the male becomes dark 

 at the tip, and coloured spots appear on the head, throat, and breast, 



* It can always be distinguished by its superior size, and the sandy buff broader diffused 

 longitudinal stripe on the crown, that of the female being whiter and sharply defined. A.G.B. 



