i 44 THE BIRDS OF ETHIOPIAN AFRICA 



guides (Indicatoridce) are parasitic in the matter of egg-laying has been long 

 known, and it appears that this habit is shared by certain members of the whydah- 

 bird group ; this parasitic habit having been demonstrated in the case of the 

 pied whydah-bird (Vidua serena), while it is probable that the same holds good 

 in the case of the typical species of the genus Qibelea, which deposits its eggs, at 

 all events in some instances, in the nests of another member of the same family, 

 namely, Pyromelana oryx. 



Exclusively Ethiopian are the parrot-weavers, characterised by their short, 

 arched beaks with compressed sides and prominently ridged culmen, and distinguished 

 from other weavers by the dark brown plumage and white wings. These birds 

 are active climbers, and have a habit of hanging head-downwards on the clusters 

 of fruit like crossbills. They inhabit marshy districts, where they perch on the 

 withered branches of trees, and build closely woven nests of conical shape pro- 

 vided with an exit on one side. The eggs are flecked with pale red on a white 

 ground. A species often seen in cages is the white-browed parrot-weaver 

 (Amblyospisa albifrons), a dark brown bird shading to black beneath, with a 

 white forehead and white flecks on the black tail and wings. This weaver, which 

 is about the size of a hawfinch, is restricted to south-eastern Africa. Another African 

 group, that of the sparrow-weavers, comprises several species of small, sparrow-like 

 birds, with the same colouring in both sexes, which associate in pairs during the 

 breeding-season, but afterwards collect in flocks in stubble-fields and pastures. 

 The nest, which is shaped like an oven, is made of dry grass lined with feathers 

 and other soft materials, and is accessible by a lateral entrance-hole situated near 

 the under surface. Of these species the red-headed sparrow- weaver (Vidua 

 hypocherina), of north-east Africa, is brown above and white beneath, with the 

 upper part of the reddish brown head streaked with white; the other member 

 of this genus, as now restricted, being the tropical V. serena (principalis or super- 

 ciliosa). The bush-weavers (Calyphantria), represented by a small number of 

 species in Madagascar and the adjacent islands and south-eastern Africa, build 

 nests resembling those of the crimson weavers : in the cock of the common species 

 the head and throat, and often the upper part of the body, are red, while the back 

 and wings show only a slight tinge of that colour. The hens are dull-coloured, 

 sparrow-like birds. A black and red plumage, in both sexes, is distinctive of the 

 weavers of the genus Malimbus, of which the shining weaver (M. nitens), a 

 black bird with a deep red breast, is a well-known West African representative. 

 These birds construct artistic flask-shaped nests, suspended from boughs. More 

 generally known is the ox-bird or buffalo-weaver (Textor albirostris), a north-east 

 African black bird rather larger than a starling, with a white margin to the middle 

 wing-feathers and an ivory-white beak. In South Africa this is replaced by the 

 red-beaked T. niger, in which the head is white. 



With the so-called ox-peckers we reach an exclusively African group 

 of the starling family (Sturnidce). These birds are represented by two well- 

 known species, both of which have short, straight, blunt, and rather curiously 

 formed red or yellow beaks, and graduated tapering tails. Ox-peckers 

 take their name from their habit of associating with the herds of antelopes, 

 elephants, and other large mammals, from the backs of which they pick the vermin. 



