The Weaver Family. 109 



the female remain indifferent to the charms of this 

 music, he will chase her all over the aviary ; but 

 presently his vanity will overcome his wrath, and he 

 will begin to blow himself out afresh." 



THE RED-HEADED or MADAGASCAR WEAVER, Foudia 

 madagascariensiSy is a native of the island to which 

 it owes its name (in the Zoological List it is said 

 to come from the Isle of France) ; and, like many 

 of its congeners, has become acclimatised in the 

 Mauritius, at St. Helena, and elsewhere. It is a 

 large bird, about the size of a common sparrow 

 all red, except the wings and tgil, which are 

 reddish-brown ; the bill is white, and the legs and 

 feet reddish-orange. In the aviary it is apt to be 

 somewhat tyrannical, and should not be lodged with 

 any of the Waxbills, whom it would probably harry 

 to death during the breeding season, when it will 

 also remorselessly persecute the smaller members of 

 its own race. 



Food and treatment as for the other Weavers. 



THE ORANGE WEAVER, or ORANGE BISHOP, 

 Euplectes franciscanus, is smaller than the last 

 species, being about the size of a goldfinch. The 

 male when in full colour is bright reddish-orange on 

 the throat, upper part of breast, nape, shoulders, 

 back, and the long upper tail-coverts; the top of the 

 head is black, which is also the colour of the lower 

 part of the breast and the belly; the beak is dusky 

 red, and the legs and feet reddish. 



It is an excitable and restless bird, and fights 

 bitterly with the males of its own species ; it does 

 not even spare its own female, which it drives about 



