THE YELLOW-BACKED WHYDAH. 281 



is larger, and does not entirely lose the yellow from the wing- coverts; 

 the dark brown streaking of the under parts is also better defined. 



The adult female is pale greyish-brown, streaked with darker 

 brown on the crown, mantle and back ; lesser wing- coverts dark 

 brown, edged with olivaceous yellow ; remaining feathers of the wing 

 and tail dark brown, edged with whity-brown ; lores and a prominent 

 eyebrow yellowish buff ; feathers round eye and ear-coverts brown ; 

 throat yellowish ; remainder of under surface buff, shading into pale 

 brown at the sides, a few darker brown streaks on the sides of the 

 breast ; quills below dusky, yellowish along the inner edge. Length, 

 5 inches ; beak and legs pale flesh-coloured, upper mandible brownish ; 

 iris brown. 



Von Heuglin says of this Whydah : " I found it in pairs during 

 the summer rains, in damp valleys in Bongo, in the neighbourhood of 

 the Gazelle river. It gains its full colouring in the middle of July, 

 and appears to leave its living haunts, in August and September, with 

 the young. In December, I again noticed some of the birds, not far 

 from the Kosanga river among dry high grass. Like its relatives, 

 P. macrura makes its dwelling in tall Cyperacea and in thickets of 

 other kinds of Graminece, the seeds of which form its food ; only it 

 appears, at any rate in the breeding season, not to live in communities. 

 It is a very lively bird." 



" I have seen this bird as little on bushes as on the ground." 



According to Reichenow, this species is abundant at Accra : his 

 testimony corresponds with that of Von Heuglin ; for he says : " it 

 wanders about singly or in pairs in the tall grass and upon bushes." 

 This would seem to argue that the Yellow-backed Whydah was an 

 exception to the rule, and was not polygamous. 



" It is fond of sitting upon a prominent branch, and therefrom 

 projects itself straight into the air, at which time the body is held 

 quite perpendicularly, and the feathers of the nape appear puffed up. 

 The construction of the nest greatly resembles that of the Oryx Weaver; 

 it has a roof-like super-structure. At the same time, as a whole, it is 

 somewhat firmer ; inasmuch as there is a loosely formed outer wall of 

 coarse grass, and a thick inner wall of fine fragile grass, which latter 

 gives the requisite solidity to the nest. It is by no means a work of 

 art, as Kirk describes it. It stands isolated in tall grass. The male 

 continues to build, though the laying, consisting of two, or at most 

 three eggs, be completed. Whilst the female incubates, the male sits 

 on an elevated spot, close by, with bristling neck feathers, and charges 

 every bird which approaches the nesting-place. Where this Whydah 



