286 FOREIGN FINCHES IN CAPTIVITY. 



THE NAPOLEON WEAVER. 



Pyromelana afra, GMELIN. 



THIS is one of the most beautiful and plentifully imported of the 

 West African Weavers : it is found from Senegambia to the 

 Niger and Fernando Po. 



When in colour the male bird is for the most part of a bright 

 buttercup yellow colour, but the face and chin are occupied by a large 

 black patch which also encloses the eye ; the nape of the neck, breast 

 and abdomen are also velvety black, the wings and tail dark brownish, 

 with paler edges to the feathers. Length 4^ inches. Beak black, 

 legs flesh- col oured ; iris blackish brown. 



Male in winter plumage (and female) above pale tawny brown, 

 the wing feathers blackish with yellowish brown margins ; all the 

 other feathers with dark brown centres ; a broad buff eyebrow ; ear- 

 coverts brown, edged above with blackish ; body below sandy brown, 

 the face and breast yellowish ; the throat, breast and sides streaked 

 with blackish ; throat and abdomen whitish. Beak pinkish horn- 

 colour, lower mandible paler ; eye-stripe of male yellower than that of 

 the female and sides of body more striped. 



Dr. Russ says that the sexes during the winter season are hard 

 to distinguish, but the male has the colouring of the back and wing- 

 feathers more pronounced, and here and there it has a yellow feather ; 

 to my mind the beak is larger, giving the head of the male a mqre 

 aggressive appearance, which is fully borne out by the bird's behaviour. 



Von. Heuglin says : " We saw it about Lake Tana in Abyssinia, 

 and on Semyen mountains, in the winter, and immediately before the 

 rainy season. Here it appears to be a resident bird, and lives in 

 companies of from three to eight head, which frequently keep close 

 together, and affect low scrub in hedges and dense fields of maize, and 

 about thrashing-floors, preferable in the vicinity of pastures. It has 

 also been observed at Sobat and the White Nile." 



Dr. Russ correctly observes : " In captivity Napoleon Weavers 

 are perfectly harmless and peaceable, towards both large and small 

 associates, only as soon as they don their ornamental plumage, they 

 become uncommonly lively and excitable, and then they are unpleasant 



