BISHOP, AND WIDOW-BIRDS 123 



Sakabula. In its breeding garb of glossy black, orange-red 

 epaulettes, and long heavy tail gracefully curved, the male 

 is a conspicuous ornament of the veld almost anywhere 

 in South Africa, excepting Western Cape Colony. Length, 

 23 inches (male), 7 inches (female). It builds a dome- 

 shaped nest of grass in a tuft of the same, and lays three 

 eggs of a bluish-white, thickly marked with dark and purplish- 

 brown and greyish blotches and spots. 



The Eed-coUared Widow-Bird ((7. ardens) is smaller than 

 the preceding species, has no red epaulettes, but is cha- 

 racterised by an orange-scarlet collar across the upper 

 breast. Length, 12 J inches. 



Like the Pyromelana, both these species are polygamous 

 in habits, one male consorting with from six to a dozen 

 females. The latter are plain brownish birds. 



The sprightly little Pin-tailed Whydah {Vidua principalis) 

 is also a well-known figure in its pied plumage of black and 

 white, long narrow tail, and pink bill. It is known to the 

 Boers as the Koning Rooibekje (King Eed-bill). The breed- 

 ing habits of this bird have long been a mystery to ornith- 

 ologists, owing to the fact that it is a fairly common bird 

 in South Africa, and yet only one or two unsatisfactory 

 observations have been recorded. Mr. Austin Roberts, the 

 oologist and collector, thinks, however {Journal oj the South 

 African Ornithologists' Union, June, 1907), that he has 

 solved the problem. He considers the species parasitic, and 

 that they deposit their eggs in the nests of other birds, 

 chiefly species of the Estrildimce. 



The Shaft-tailed Widow-Bird {Vidua regia) is black above, 

 and yellowish below ; the four centre tail-feathers being 

 lengthened and only webbed for the final 2 or 3 inches, the 

 rest of the shaft being bare. Length, 4^ inches ; to end of 

 long tail-feathers, 12 inches. 



