Weaver-birds 819 



Parrot-Tanager. A curious rather than beautiful member of the group 

 is the Parrot-Tanager (Psittospiza rie/eri) of the Andes of Colombia and 

 Ecuador. The subject of our colored illustration is the splendid Central 

 American Tanager (Chlorochrysa nitidissima) of the United States of Colombia. 

 It is rather rare and little is known of its habits. 



THE WEAVER-BIRDS 



(Family Ploceidce) 



To the casual observer the members of the present family are very likely to 

 be mistaken for Finches (Fringittida), for they have the stocky bodies and in 

 general the conical, thick, and heavy bills characteristic of Sparrows or Finches, 

 and as a matter of fact about the only visible difference between them is the 

 possession of ten instead of nine primaries, and even this first primary in many 

 is so minute as to be observed with difficulty. In fact, there is a complex 

 of four so-called families the Troupials (Icteridct), Tanagers (Tanagrid(B\ 

 Weaver-birds (Ploceida), and Finches (Fringillidce) which interdigitate at 

 so many points and in general are so closely related that it is hard to decide 

 whether it would be best to " regard them all as members of one family," or make 

 an entirely new disposition. Be this as it may, we may leave its settlement to 

 future investigators and pass to a brief consideration of the Ploceida as usually 

 accepted. They are exclusively confined to the Old World, having their center 

 of distribution in Africa, whence they range over the Oriental and Australian 

 regions, but none reaches New Zealand nor enters the Palaearctic region. In 

 a way they take the place in the Eastern Hemisphere that is occupied in the New 

 World by the Troupials or Hang-nests, and like the latter many of them con- 

 struct pensile nests. The family is divided into two groups or subfamilies largely 

 on the basis of the length of the outermost primary, this in the true or typical 

 Weaver-birds (Ploceina) being about as long as the tarsus. In addition to this 

 character it may be mentioned that the males of these birds have a distinct sum- 

 mer and winter plumage, the spring moult being partial and confined to those 

 parts in which there is a change of color. In the other subfamily (Viduina), 

 which includes the so-called Munias, Widow-birds, Wax-bills, etc., the outermost 

 primary is very minute, being much shorter than the tarsus, and there is no 

 spring moult; they should probably be given full family rank. 



The first subfamily, with the exception of two Asiatic genera and some half 

 a dozen species, is confined to Africa, and its members are mainly gregarious, 

 usually breeding in company and at other seasons of the year associating in large 

 flocks. They are for the most part sedentary in their habits, usually tame and 

 fearless of man and frequenting a great variety of situations such as woods and 

 gardens, open fields and grassy plains, as well as reed beds along streams, rice- 

 fields, and bushy jungle. They feed for the most part on grain and seeds with 

 occasional insects, and while they have no song worthy of the name, they keep 



