Buntings. 53 



digestive organs, considered it more nearly related to the Finches. 

 In this Stevenson agreed with him; while Howard Saunders 

 observes : " In its digestive organs and other points of internal 

 structure this bird shows no real affinity to the Tits ; and some 

 writers have advocated its relationship to the Finches." In British 

 Birds with their Nests and Eggs, vol. i. pp. 140, 141, I have pointed 

 out that in many respects it seems to show relationship to the 

 Ploceine Finches. I believe that my friend Mr Frank Finn con- 

 siders that some of its actions indicate affinity to the Babblers ; but 

 the matter can only be finally decided by careful dissection and 

 comparison. 



The Bearded Reedling (Panurus biarmicus). 



The female is duller than the male, the black moustache is want- 

 ing from the sides of face and throat, nor is there any black on the 

 under tail-coverts ; the bluish-grey also is wanting from the crown, 

 which is of a brownish-fawn colour. 



Chapter X. 



WEAVER-BIRDS AND WHYDAHS (Floceidce) 



As there are no recognised European representatives of this 

 family, it will be necessary to consider it and the related Starlings 

 of the family Icteridce before dealing further with British birds.* 

 I shall follow the order proposed in my Foreign Finches in Captivity, 

 where I divided the family into Waxbills, Grass-Finches, Mannikins 

 (from the German " Mannchen," or Little Man ; in England some- 

 times spelt Manakin, as in the Tit-like Pipridce), Whydahs, and 

 Weavers. All of these, excepting the more typical of the Weavers, 

 belong to the Whydah-like birds (Viduince), the residue to the 

 Ploceina}. The subfamily Fstrildince I adopt for convenience, 

 though it is based upon an inconstant character. 



The Waxbills, etc. (Estrildince). 



I can discover practically no difference in the sexes of the Wax- 

 bills as regards the outline of the beak ; it is always conical, and 

 that of the male is hardly, if at all, broader, either at base or middle, 

 than that of the female. There are more or less defined colour 

 differences. 



* A well-known scientific ornithologist agreed with me that the thick-billed 

 Icteridce were allied to the typical Weavers of the Old World, rather than to the 

 Buntings; yet, oddly enough, the species of Molothrus have been called "Cow- 

 Buntings, 



