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labelled Penthetria ardens. The former seems the better name, as

it indicates both the group to which the bird belongs and its

‘ 4 crimson ” throat band. In my own specimen, however, the

band is decidedly not crimson, but of an orange-yellow color. I

append the description given in the work above mentioned, as it

accurately describes the bird, with the exception that the tail of

my bird is fully ten inches in length, instead of six as mentioned :


“ The entire plumage, both above and below, is deep and

glossy black ; paler and inclining to brown on the wings, where

the tertials have a pale fulvous external margin. The bright

orange - scarlet band is situated across the upper part of the

breast, or rather at the lower part of the throat.


“Total length, from the bill to the tip of the wings, four

and one-tenth inches; tail beyond, six; bill, from the gape,

half; wings, three; tarsus, eight - tenths ; middle toe and claw,

one ; hinder ditto, eight-tenths.”


It may be of some interest to explain how I became

possessed of this rara avis. In the late summer of 1894, there

was established at the Westminster Aquarium a bird stall at

which I was a frequent visitor. One evening I saw two birds in

a cage together, one of which I readily identified as a cock

pintail Whydah just coming into color. The other was the

subjedt of the present chapter. The manager of the stall offered

them to me (at the price of one guinea) as a pair of “ Cut-throat

Whydahs.” He certainly got very near to the name of one, as

the bird is marked very similarly to the “ Cut-throat” or Ribbon

P'inches. After a little bargaining, I bought the “pair” for

twelve shillings and sixpence, thus making the cheapest

acquisition that has ever fallen to my lot. I have since been

offered ten pounds for the one bird.


The principal beauty of the Crimson-banded Whydah is

in his tail. While the ornamental part of the tail of the Pintail

and Paradise Whydahs consists of four feathers only, in this bird

the whole tail becomes elongated, and when it is at its best each

of the ten feathers of which it is composed becomes wavy, and

appears of a spiral form, the result being that his tail is an

exadt counterpart in miniature of the magnificent appendage

possessed by the Giant Whydah.


I bought my bird in full plumage in August, 1894, and he

kept in condition until May, 1895. I11 that mouth he cast his


tail, without changing plumage, and a new tail grew immediately.

At the end of Odtober he moulted throughout, the strange part

of the proceeding being that, while his new body and wing

plumage came “ out of color,” yet his new tail grew black from



