Dr. E. Hopkinson—The Yellow-backed Whydah 137


be Pyromelana. (? Have we a “ Kaffir Finch ”, P. capensis,

here ?)


1908. July. Saw definite Y.B. Whydahs occasionally near Bakau

(Niumi).


1909. May 11. Gunjur. Saw a single bird exactly like the 1907

birds. Half colour (general weaver-look and black like a

Bishop), and with the yellow confined to the shoulder ; back

still speckly. Got quite close to this bird.


May 15. Kartong (southern border of Kombo). Saw several

more of these birds in the dry, now quite sandy, rice-fields.

Tails do not seem long enough for Yellow-backed Whydahs ;

they suggest to me the Urobrachya plate in the B.M. catalogue,

but the shoulder-patch is a bright gold yellow. During the

next few days I remained at Kartong and saw plenty of these

birds on the rice-fields or the dry sandy flats covered with

coarse grass and low straggly thorns, behind the mangroves

along the Allahin River. Here they were feeding on the ground

with other Weavers and Waxbills, in pairs, or more commonly

in threes, one showing yellow and black, the other two in

brown plumage and presumably hens. They were very tame

for Weaver birds and only flew at one’s close approach, and then

only to the nearest bush, returning at once to the feeding-place

as we moved on. The males were about half-coloured (I saw

none in full colour), and the yellow was entirely confined to the

shoulders.


1916. August. Yellow-backed Whydahs quite common at the Cape

during the rains. They nest in the rough grass among the

mangroves which border the numerous creeks. At this season

one sees the males very commonly, but the females rarely.

I think that there is usually only one wife, but occasionally

I feel sure that one male (perhaps a cocksure young one) has two

establishments to look after. There is no nesting in company

like the Bishops, and I have never seen one male driving another

as is so common among the Crimson-crowned Bishops, which

nest in much the same places, but in larger numbers, so that the

males are continually coming into collision with each other over

fancied trespasses.



