The Weaver Family. 113 



The long tail and the velvety-black plumage of 

 the male are only worn for a short time; that is 

 to say, during the breeding season : at other times it 

 has a short tail and a greyish-brown coat, something 

 like that of a caged redpoll which is always that 

 of the female; the latter, however, can be readily 

 distinguished from her elegant husband by her much 

 smaller size. 



These birds are fed on millet- and canary-seed, but 

 require the addition of ants' eggs during the moulting 

 season. 



It will be found to be a good plan to save the shells 

 of ail the eggs used in the house, dry them thoroughly 

 in the oven or on top of the kitchen range, pound 

 them up coarsely, and strew them on the floor of the 

 aviary, where portions of them are greedily swallowed 

 by all birds, the females elaborating from them shells 

 for their own eggs, and both sexes finding help for 

 the formation of their plumage from the carbonate of 

 lime contained in the broken shells. 



THE PIN-TAILED WHYDAH, Vidua principalis (illus- 

 trated at Fig. 37), is a smaller bird than the pre- 

 ceding, being about the size of a redpoll. Its tail is 

 almost as long as that of the Paradise Whydah, but 

 composed of much less conspicuous feathers, for they 

 are not a third as broad as those of its congener. 

 In young birds the elongated plumes number two only ; 

 but when the bird is three or four years old, they 

 are increased to four. 



The beak is red, a line round it is black, as are 

 the head, nape, shoulders, back, and tail ; the remaining 

 portions of the plumage are white, except the large 



