162 



CHAPTER LV. 



THE COMBASSOTJ. 



ALTHOUGH differing from them by the absence of the 

 elongated tail feathers, this bird is thought by many 

 ■writers to belong to the family of the Whydah birds, for it 

 comes into colour just as they do, and has the same habit of 

 scratching with its feet in the dust; it is also said to build 

 a similar nest, but upon this point I can say nothing, for 

 none of my Combassous ever made the least attempt to build. 

 Dr. Euss, however, is of opinion that these birds form a 

 class by themselves; among many scientific names that have 

 been bestowed that which seems to me the most suitable is 

 Fringilla miens, for the summer plumage of the male really 

 shines with a true metallic lustre. The Germans call it der 

 Stahlblaue Widafinh, oder der Atlas Vogel, and the French Le 



The female always, and the male when, out of colour, re- 

 semble a hen Redpoll. 



A recent writer has stated that these birds breed freely in 

 captivity, and gives his readers to understand, without exactly 

 saying so in as many words, that they have nested in his 

 aviary: but Dr. Euss, in my opinion an incomparably higher 

 authority, says that breeding is very difficult, for after long 

 years of trial he only obtained one brood fDie Zuchtwng ist 

 ausserordentlich schwer : ich habe lei jahrelangen Versuohen nur 

 eine Brut erlangt.) 



The food of these birds consists mainly of seeds, but they 

 will greedily devour all the insects they can get hold of, and 

 seem to be especially partial to spiders and aphides; and it 

 is possibly on account of the insufficient supply of this kind 

 of food, that my Combassous made no attempt to breed. 



