68 How to Sex Cage Birds. 



centre of abdomen pure white, sides coloured like the breast. Male 

 in winter plumage much like the female, but with the black streaks 

 on the crown much narrower and more regular, and the body below 

 less strongly streaked ; at the approach of the breeding season the 

 borders to the feathers of the upper surface first become suffused 

 with yellow, and those of the throat acquire well-defined yellow 

 fringes, and so the bright colouring gradually increases from day to 

 day. I describe from a male which died in the first stage of its 

 change. 



Grenadier Weaver (l'yromelana orix). 



In breeding plumage the male is orange-vermilion; duller on the 

 mantle ; " scapulars with broad angular blackish centres ; front 

 two-thirds of crown, sides of head, chin, upper throat, chest, and 

 middle of abdomen black ; wings and tail dark brown, with narrow 

 pale edges to the feathers ; under wing-coverts, inner margins of the 

 quills and the thighs rufous-buff" (Shelley). The female is pale 

 brown with blackish centres to the feathers, the stripes on the 

 crown regular, as in P. rugriventris ; a broad buff eyebrow-streak \ 

 under parts white, shaded with brown on the sides and lower half 

 of the throat, the front and sides of body; most of the feathers with 

 dusky shaft-streaks. The male in winter, according to Shelley, is 

 "similar to the female, but with the stripes of the throat and body 

 more strongly marked." It is larger also. 



Crimson-crown kd Weaveb (Pyromelana Jlammiceps). 



Male in summer plumage orange-vermilion above, the mantle 

 duller, more brownish : wings and tail black, the central tail- 

 feathers faintly edged with buff; front of forehead, sides of face, 

 chin and upper throat, lower breast and abdomen black, lower 

 throat and upper breast orange-vermilion connected with the red of 

 upper parts ; sides of abdomen fawn colour; thighs and under tail- 

 coverts rufous-buff. The hen is not unlike that sex of the Napoleon 

 Weaver (P. afm), but larger, with more powerful beak ; rather 

 darker and more distinctly streaked with black above; the eyebrow 

 streak broader, and more yellow ; the ear-coverts, cheeks, chin, and 

 centre of throat also washed with yellow, the breast slightly 

 yellower and less distinctly streaked at the sides ; the abdomen 

 less broadly brown at the sides. The male in winter plumage is 

 said to be similar, but with the wings blacker. It is certain to be 

 a trifle larger. 



Females of this species are often sold as Napoleon Weavers. I 

 have had two among the few which I have bought at various times. 



Red-billed Weaver (Quelea quelea). 

 This pink and cinnamon bird, with its black mask and crimson 

 beak, is too well known to need description in its summer plumage; 

 the female has the beak orange-ochreous, the head above smoky- 

 grey like the mantle of the male ; a white eyebrow stripe with a 

 dark grey stripe below it ; sides of face ashy whitish, a blackish 



