.306 



CLASS AVES. 



plumage, would have a fourth less of tail feathers than in 

 their autumnal habits. But this is inadmissible. Brisson and 

 Latham concur as to their descriptions, in this point, with 

 M. Vieillot. The latter gentleman assures vis that his obser- 

 vation is founded on repeated examination of males, both 

 dead and living, and that there can be no sort of doubt that 

 the four large feathers are the intermediate quills of the tail, 

 and not some of the upper coverts, and that these same quills 

 do not differ from the other eight, when the males are clothed 

 in the same livery as the females. A remark confirmatory 

 of this opinion is, that if the long feathers are only two in 

 number in one species, {SicperciUosa), they are accompanied 

 by ten lateral quills. 



The widoAV-birds, according to travellers, employ nothing 

 but cotton in the construction of their nest, and this nest has 

 two stages or stories. The male inhabits the upper, and the 

 female hatches in the lower story ; but it does not appear, 

 from any account, whether all the widow-birds construct 

 nests of this description, or whether they are confined to a 

 peculiar species ; and if so, what is that peculiar species ? 

 On this point, travellers, naturalists, and even certain Dutch 

 amateurs, who, it is said, have succeeded in getting these 

 birds to hatch, in a state of captivity, are all silent. 



Brisson, Montbeillard, and other French ornithologists, 

 have placed the widow-birds with the sparrows and chaf- 

 finches, Latham and Gmelin with the buntings ; but the 

 conformation of the bill shows that their proper place is that 

 assigned them by the Baron. The male of the paradisea ( Whi- 

 dah bunting) has rather an agreeable and varied song, though 

 somewhat sharp. When in his summer plumage, he sings with 

 more force, and if kept in a large aviary, wall sing in flying. 

 These birds are found on the western coast of Africa, in 

 Senegal, and the kingdom of Angola ; their disposition is 



