228 Some Notes on Jackson's Whydahs. 
Some Notes on Jackson's Whydahs. 
By G. E. LoAv. 
My brother brought me nine of these Whydahs, out of 
colour, from British East Africa last year. I might mention they 
were captured in a swamp in the neighbourhood of his house 
by hie black servants, who were sent out to catch anything 
Left to right : Vliolo hij G. E. Low. 
1, 2 and 3— Hens, Jackson's Whydah. 
4 — Cock, Jackson's Whydah (out of colour). 
5 — Wedge-tailed Glossy Starling. 
they could. I understand this Whydah is plentiful there and in the 
breeding season the dancing antics of numbers of cocks, in 
colour, can be seen plainly across the landscape as they rise 
and fall, their tails floating in the breeze. 
Of these birds, the species of which I only determined 
after they had been some time in my possession, four were 
cocks and five hens. One pair and the odd hen, I exchanged, 
one bock escaped, and 1 am left with two cocks and three hens, 
some of which appear in the "photos reproduced. 
The old cocks commenced coming into colour in November 
last, reassuming their undress plumage in May. The young 
cock now in colour began putting on his new suit in the end 
of May, and has only just completed the operation. 
As regards determining the sexes when out of colour, 
size seems to be the chief point of difference, the cocks, in my 
experience, being oonsiderably larger and with somewhat longer 
taild thau the hens. , , 
