368 EASTERN ETHIOPIA xxx 



birds, touracos, parrots, kingfishers and glossy starlings 

 are very beautiful. Some are remarkable for their 

 grotesqueness ; among them the whale-headed stork, 

 skimmer, horubill, flamingo and the saddle-billed stork. 

 Eccentricity of plumage is noteworthy in a few, such 

 as the nightjars (goat-suckers), weaver finches, egrets, 

 and hammer-heads. 



The first thing about Ethiopian birds that attracted 

 my attention was the number of them that had peculiarly 

 narrow tapering tails, and two which had a super- 

 abundance of tail feathers. During my stay in Nairobi 

 the grass on the unoccupied land around the town was 

 in flower and seed. These grass patches were the 

 favourite resorts of large numbers of weaver birds, 

 especially those known as Jackson's Whydah birds. In 

 shape, size, and colour these birds resemble sparrows. 

 At the bleeding season the feathers of the cock undergo 

 an extraordinary change, they become quite black with 

 the exception of the long feathers of the wings, and the 

 tail feathers elongate out of all proportion to their 

 previous condition. When the bird flies the tail 

 feathers spread out like a parachute and arch in a 

 peculiar way so that it seems to float rather than 

 to fly through the air. When the bird alights these 

 long feathers diverge and cause it as much inconveni- 

 ence as a long court train does to a lady when she seeks 

 refuge in a four-wheeled cab. In addition to the 

 extravagant growth of the rectrices, the primaries and 

 secondaries undergo a compensatory enlargement to 

 balance the bird in flight. 



It is not uncommon around Nairobi to see a score of 

 these long-tailed finches floating by means of their 

 feathery parachutes over a grass plot. At the end of 

 the breeding season these long plumes drop off and the 

 cock, in the matter of plumage, is similar to the hen. 

 These birds have two sexual seasons annually. 



Mr. F. J. Jackson carefully studied these birds, and 

 points out that the cocks of D. jacksoni make circular 



