io8 Favourite Foreign Birds. 



Weaver is known by the name of Euplectes qfer, and 

 is classed with the Waxbills and Mannikins, which is 

 confusing, and a little misleading too. 



THE YELLOW-SHOULDERED WEAVER, Euplectes ca- 

 pensis, is a native of Tropical Africa, and must be 

 treated accordingly. The general colour is black, but 

 the shoulders and the middle of the back are bright 

 yellow ; the wings are greyish-brown. 



THE CRIMSON-CROWNED WEAVER, Euplectes flam- 

 miceps, has the head, neck, throat, nape, breast and 

 back, rump, and upper tail-coverts of scarlet ; the 

 shoulders are brown ; the wings and tail black ; the 

 lores, ear-coverts, chin, lower breast, and belly black ; 

 the bill is also black. 



The female is brown, and distinguishable from other 

 female Weavers by the darker colour of her mandibles. 



THE ORYX WEAVER, Ploceus oryx (Russ), or 

 Euplectes oryx, is known in the trade as the 

 Grenadier Weaver. It is just like a Napoleon Weaver 

 whose yellow tints had been changed to a vivid red. 

 The beak is dusky orange, and the legs and feet a 

 brighter shade of the same colour. It is about the 

 size of a well-grown goldfinch. 



Writing of this bird, which he says breeds freely 

 in the aviary, Mr. Wiener remarks : <( One of the 

 strangest sights a collection of Weaver-birds affords 

 is the Oryx when endeavouring to attract the notice 

 of the hen bird. He will gradually raise his body 

 and blow himself out until he looks much larger 

 than he is, and the feathers stand nearly erect ; whilst 

 he will utter sounds which seem a mixture of hissing, 

 chirping, and the noise of scissors-grinding. Should 



