i 4 2 THE BIRDS OF ETHIOPIAN AFRICA 



fined to the tropics, which has been introduced into the West Indies, and is often 

 seen in cages in Europe. It derives its name from the magpie-like style of colour- 

 ing. The head and throat are glossy black, the back and wings brown, the 

 shoulders and a spot on each side of the breast blackish green, and the breast and 

 middle of the under-parts white. Somewhat similar is the parti-coloured lesser 

 magpie (Lepidopygia bicolor), which has black-and-white plumage and occurs on 

 the west coast. A number of species allied to the rose-finches, such as the orange- 

 cheeked finch (Sporceginthus melpodus), the gold-breasted finch (S. subfiavus) of 

 tropical Africa, the scarlet-rumped finch (Coccopygia dufresnei) of South Africa, 

 the blood finch (0. minima) of the equatorial zone, and the white-spotted finch 

 {Hypargus niveoguttatus) of East Africa, are also characteristic types. 



The exclusively African masked weavers are about the size of linnets, but in 

 colouring come nearer the yellow-hammer on the back, wings, and tail, some species 

 having, however, red on the head and beak. These birds associate in pairs or 

 small companies during the breeding-season, but after the young are fledged 

 wander over the plains in large flocks in search of grass-seed, and build 

 pouch-shaped nests on the tops of high trees. A well-known representative 

 of the group is the red-headed weaver (Quelea erythrops) of West Africa, 

 taking its name from the red skull-cap. The crimson weavers, again, or 

 bishop-birds (Pyromelana), as typified by the South African P. oryx, form 

 a group represented by numerous species, in which the winter plumage of the 

 cocks and the dress of the females at all seasons is much like that of a yellow- 

 hammer, but the breeding livery of the males is black and red or black and yellow, 

 the feathers on the head and throat being short and velvety in texture. These 

 birds also live on grass-plains, where they wander about in family parties, building 

 their oval-domed nests, furnished with conveniently placed exits, amid the stems 

 of high grass, to which they are attached. The eggs are either plain blue, or with 

 sparse specklings of black or red on a blue ground. While the hen is sitting the 

 cock takes his station on a bush or tree close by, where he puffs out his body and 

 swells his plumage until the body becomes almost as round as a ball, and he 

 at the same time performs various strange evolutions. The velvet-weavers 

 (Diatropura and Coliostruthus) differ from the crimson weavers by the round, 

 graduated tail, which is sometimes nearly the same length as the wings but in other 

 cases longer. The breeding-plumage of the cocks is velvety black marked with red 

 or yellow. In habits these birds much resemble the crimson weavers, although they 

 do not whirr through the air, but fly in jerks with the body rather stiff. The nest 

 is exactly like that of the crimson weavers, but the eggs are spotted with grey on a 

 greenish ground. The cock performs similar antics at the breeding-season, puffing out 

 his plumage and erecting his neck-feathers, rising suddenly from his perch to ascend 

 vertically into the air, and then slowly descending. In this group the cock-tailed 

 whydah (D. progne), a bird about the size of a starling, is a South African species 

 in which the females differ from the males by having red on the shoulders. The 

 males themselves, which are black with vermilion wing-coverts and a white patch on 

 the breast, have long tails of gracefully curved feathers. The true whydah, or widow, 

 birds, often classed with the velvet-weavers, are distinguished by the lighter beak 

 and the absence of the short velvet-like plumage on the head and throat, as well as 



