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The courtship of Jackson's Whydah.



last month or so we have had nice warm weather, but the winter

was very wet and cold. Although not cold enough for frost—the

thermometer never reached freezing point the whole winter—we had

abnormal rainfalls. Sometimes it rained continuously for a whole

day or more, and some weeks we did not see the sun for more than

two or three days. This, of course, was very trying for the poor

little birds, and many of the young in the early broods perished from

the damp. The last round, though, have done much better, and this

month I have on the wing 5 Gouldians, 9 Long-tailed Grass Finches,

5 Mask Finches, 7 Star Finches, 2 Napoleon Weavers, 3 Crimson

Finches, 2 Firetails, 3 Fire Finches, 9 Bicheno Finches, 5 Madagascar

Weavers, 4 Diamond Sparrows, and numerous Waxbills, etc.


I devote myself entirely to the smaller birds, a pair of

Diamond Doves being the largest birds I have in my aviaries.



THE COURTSHIP OF JACKSON’S WHYDAH*


By Norma Lorimer.


I saw specimens of the Weaver Birds known as the Jackson

Whydah Bird or the Dancing Bird. In ordinary times these birds look

quite uninteresting, and very much like our common or garden

Sparrows; but in the courting season a great change takes place, for

the cock bird suddenly develops the most enormous tail, and all his

feathers, except the strongest of his wing feathers, turn jet black.

You can’t imagine how absurd a court train of black moire looks on

a little bird shaped like a Sparrow and about the same size. Perched

on a stump of maize or a stem of millet, it makes a fine and fanciful

picture, and one in which a Japanese artist would delight. I wonder

if it has adopted this peculiar form of plumage to attract the female,

because most of the birds in Africa have splendid tail feathers ! It is

one of their most noticeable features. This wise bird may have

thought its courting would be more favourably received by the

object of its adoration if it could, for the time being, turn itself into


[* The foregoing is reprinted from Miss Lorimer’s book, ‘ By the Waters of Africa,’

reviewed in the March ‘ Avicultural Magazine.’ We advise all our readers to

get this book. — G. R.]



