PLOCEIN^. 
and third equal and longest. Tail square at the end or slightly emarginated. Legs strong, with the 
Tarsi having distinct shields in front, and entire behind. The outer and inner Toes equal, the hinder 
one slightly shorter, but stronger, the middle one much the longest ; claws strong and curved. 
The birds of this genus are peculiar to North and South Africa, where they appear to live in flocks on the margins 
of the streams. Their food consists of seeds and small Insects ; for these they generally search on the ground. 
Their nests are formed In society, sometimes twenty or thirty of them being observed on one tree. In form they 
approach tliose of the "Weavers. " The entire of the walls of each nest," says Dr. Smith, " was composed of stalks of 
grass, the thickest extremities of which were so placed as to protrude externally for several inches beyond the more 
compact structure destined to contain the eggs. By this management each appeared armed with numerous projecting 
spines, and bore considerable resemblance to the body of a porcupine, when Its spines are partially erected." 
1. PI. mahali A. Smith, 111. S. Afr. Zool. pi. 65. 2. PI. superciliosus (Riipp.) A. Smith, Riipp. Zool. Atl. pi. 15. 
Vidua Ciiv.* 
Bill more or less lengthened, conic, laterally compressed, mth the culmen much arched, or nearly 
straight from the base to the tip, and advancing on the forehead in a point ; the lateral margins 
sinuated or straight, and the gonys leng-thened and ascending ; the nostrils basal, lateral, mostly hidden 
by the frontal feathers, and rounded. Wings moderate, mth the first quill spurious, the second nearly 
as long as the third, the third, fourth, and fifth nearly equal and longest. Tail varying in length, -with 
some of the coverts and tail-feathers considerably lengthened and of various forms. Tarsi slender, 
shorter than the middle toe, covered in front mth conspicuously divided scales. Toes long and 
slender, the lateral ones nearly equal, the hind toe as long as the inner, and all armed -with long 
claws. 
All the species ai'e from the vast continent of Africa, and are generally found on the trees that grow in the neigh- 
bourhood of the rivers. The males undergo a change of plumage, and become like the females during the winter 
months. Grain, and especially millet, forms their principal food. The cotton and down of certain plants are used by 
these birds in the fonnation of their curiously woven nests. 
1. V.regia (Linn.) Cuv. PL enl. 8. f. 1., Vieill. Ois. Chant. 
t.34-,35. 2. V. principalis (Linn.) Cuv. Edward's Birds, pi. 
270. — Emberiza vidua Linn. Vieill. Ois. Chant, t. 36.; Emberiza 
Serena Linn. PI. enl. 8. f. 2. ; Vidua erythrorhyncha Swaiit.f. B. 
of W. Afr. pi. 12. 3. V. stiperciliosa (Vieill.) Gal. des Ois. 
t. 61. 4. Y.paradisea (Linn.) Cuv. PI. enl. 194., Vieill. Ois. 
Chant, t. 37, 38. 5.\.ardens (Bodd.) PI. enl. 647. — Em- 
beriza signata Scop. Sonn. Voy. t. 75.; Emberiza payanensis Gmel. ; 
Vidua rubritorques Swains. B. of W. Afr. p. 174. 6. V. ax- 
illaris' A. Smith, 111. S. Afr. Zool. pi. 17. 7. V. mucrocrrcn 
(Licht.) Brown, ill. pi. 11. — Loxia macroura Gmel.; Coliuspasser 
flaviscapulatus Riipp. PI. enl. 183. f. 1. 8. V. longicauda 
(Lath.). — Fringilla flavoptera T/e///. Ois. Chant, t. 41.; Fringilla 
chrysoptera Vieill.; Vidua chrysonota Swains (). \ . laticauda 
(Licht.) — Coliuspasser torquatus Rupp. Faun. t. 36. f. 2. 10. 
V. lenocinia (Less.) Tr. d'Orn. 437- 
Chera. 
Characters in common with Vidua ; but the Wings long, with the first quill spurious, the second, third 
and fourth slightly graduated, and the fifth and sixth nearly equal, but the fiftli the longest. Tail 
and its coverts much lengthened, compressed, and arched. 
This active species frequents the marshes and borders of the great rivers of South Africa. The females are said to 
have the peculiar habit of living In societies of twenty or tliirty, and are In general accompanied by about two males, 
whose gay plumage becomes sobered like that of the female during the winter months, and Is resumed again on the 
return of summer. The nests are also built in societies of thirty or more together, woven on the stems of reeds. In 
foiTn they approach very much those of the other species of this subfamily. 
C. Proyne (Bodd.) PI. enl. 635. — Loxia cafFra Gmel.; Emberiza longicauda Gmel. Mill. Icon. t. iii. A., Vieill. Ois. Chant, t. 39, 40.; 
Vidua phoenicoptera Swains. 
* The late Baron Cuvier proposed this division {Anatomie Comparee) in 1790 or 1800 ; and Dr. Ruppel separated some of the species, 
under the subgeneric appellation of Coliuspasser, in 1837. 
May, 1844. 
