THE PASSERES 203 



afford the reader any adequate basis of comparison. 

 The Red- winged Starling {Amydrus moris) has 

 been reported, but I have never seen one. Another 

 member of this family, the Red-billed Oxpecker 

 (JBuphaga), serves a useful purpose by removing 

 blood-sucking parasites from inaccessible portions 

 of the bodies of the larger mammals. 



To the same order of the Passeres belong fiiUy 

 sixteen different families of weaver birds, from the 

 striking, black-headed Hypantornis to the bright 

 chrome-yellow variety whose nests fringe the 

 overhanging bushes on the Zambezi, and depend 

 from the stiff fronds of the bordering Borassus 

 palms. Another lovely example is the bright, 

 verditer-blue and chestnut Weaver Finch {Pytelia), 

 as also the yellow-winged Sitagra. There are 

 likewise spot-headed weavers, red-headed weavers, 

 buffalo and thick-billed weavers, and doubtless 

 many more still of which we are ignorant. 



In addition to the black-tailed Widow-bird, to 

 which I have already made some reference, there 

 are altogether about nine more varieties, which 

 include the red-collared {Coliopasser ardens), the 

 pin-tailed, the paradise, the purple, the white- 

 winged, the red-shouldered Urobrachya, and others. 

 Of waxbills, bishop birds, and finches there are 

 literally scores, whilst any adequate description of 

 the multitudes of larks, buntings, seed-eaters, 

 siskins, pipits, wag-tails, and creepers would fill the 

 remainder of this book and exhaust the patience of 

 my readers at one and the same time. 



Among the Nectariniidse there are at least nine 

 kinds of sunbirds, so indescribably lovely in the 



