8 
Coliopasser macrnrus. YELLOW-BACKED WHYDAH. 
Range. vSeuegaiiibia to Angola ; Equatorial Africa. [Sh.) 
An unconniioii bird in the Gambia. 
In 1902 I .saw an individual wild and had five examples in captivity, 
one of which is still (1908) alive in my aviary at home. 
Jan. 06. I think I found two or three nests of this species in the 
swamps at Nianimarn. Nests like those of the Paradise Whydali but 
larger. 
June 18, 07. Saw a cock just showing colour at Tuba Kolloii. 
1908. Saw two or three at end of the dry season near Bathnrst. 
They are practically always found in the swamps, and feed I think 
more on the grass and reed seeds they find there, than on those of the plants 
of the cultivated ground. 
In captivity they eat a great many insects. 
Pyromelava flammiceps. CRIMSON-CROWNED BISHOP. 
Range. W.S.E. and N.E. Africa. (Sh.) 
Common in the Gambia. 
P. franascatia. ORANGE BISHOP. 
Range. W. and N.E. Africa. (Sh.) 
Fairly common in Gambia, especially near the sea, but not so frequent 
as the Crimson-crowned. 
P.ajra. NAPOLEON BISHOP. 
Range. Senegambia to the Niger Rare in Gambia. 
All the Bishops when out of colour go about in immense flocks in the 
dry swamps and on cultivated ground, and often swarm round wells and 
pools in tlie mornings and evenings. 
When out of colour one cannot help noticing the marked resemblance 
there is between litem and the English .Sedge Warbler, as they flit about 
among the stems of the tall swamp grass. 
Cocks in colour about July to December. 
The earliest sign of colour I have seen was on June 5, 07. Most are 
out of colour by the middle of Jul)', but occasionally I have seen one still 
showing some colour a little later than that. 
Tlie Crimson-crowned Bishops nest in the swamps, the Orange both 
in the swamps and among the standing millet. 
In May and June 1907 I twice met with two or three Weavers about 
half coloured, in which the shoulder appeared lobe yellow. Tiiey were cer- 
tainly too small to be Yellow- backed Wliydalis, and besides it was slionlders, 
not backs, which were coloured. Tliey looked exactly like tlie South African 
"KafBr Finch," but the range of that species can hardly extend so far north 
as this. 
Quelea qnelea. WAXBILT, WEAVER.* 
Range. Greater part of Africa. (B.M. Cat.) 
* The Ked-billed Weaver of the English dealer.— W. T. P. 
