278 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



build the nest ; the accounts of travellers who describe the domed 

 structure of this bird must be incorrect. 



As a matter of fact, the Whydahs are a transitional group, between 

 the Ornamental Finches and the Weavers; and the males, of the 

 majority of the species, have not acquired the exclusive art ascribed 

 to them, and for which their style of plumage unfits them : further- 

 more, even hen Weavers are not all incapable of construction, since 

 my first hen of the Orange Bishop built her own nest, whilst her 

 husband looked on unconcernedly ; and, in the case of the species of 

 Ploceus, both sexes work together upon their habitations, the male 

 commencing, and both male and female completing the structure. 



Mr. Abrahams received a small consignment of this rarely im- 

 ported species in 1893, but, I believe, they were all males. Dr. Russ 

 thinks that when birds were only imported on account of their beauty, 

 the African catchers were instructed not to retain hens, and they still 

 imagine that there is no demand for that sex : but if this be so, how 

 is it that they capture the hens of other species which are not one 

 whit more attractive? In 1896 my friend, Mr. Housden, obtained 

 several examples of the male which I had the pleasure of seeing 

 flying in his largest aviary in 1897. I am not sure that I should 

 much care to have the species myself; it is very handsome, but 

 requires a good deal of space to show it off to advantage. In a cage 

 it is wild and miserable, and soon become dirty. 



Sketch for the illustration of the male made from a living 

 specimen exhibited at the Crystal Palace in 1895: details filled in 

 from a skin. 



THE RED-COLLARED WHYDAH. 



Penthetria ardens, BODD. 



DR. SHARPE states that this bird inhabits nearly the whole of 

 South Africa, from the Eastern districts of the Cape Colony to 

 Natal, and the Eastern Transvaal to the Zambesi, occurring also in 

 south-western Africa and Angola. 



