My ^yearors avd Whi/dahs. 
215 
-a large field is open to them with the Weaver -group': 
Judging by the accounts of the past few seasons, tliey do not 
appear to be so difficult to breed. iThe following species 
have been bred in this country: 
Black-faced Weaver {Hyphantornis velatus) 
Black -headed Weaver (H . mclanocephalus) . 
Rufous-necked Weaver (H . cucullatus) . 
Grenadier Weaver (Enplcctes oryx). 
Napoleon Weaver {Pyromclana afra). 
Orange Weaver (P. franciscana) . 
Eed-billed Weaver (Quclca quclea). 
I am indebted to our Editor's Book " Species which 
have Reared Young," for the above records. 
I mentioned in the May issue that when in colour the 
cock Weavers seem to spend most of their time weaving their 
wonderful nests. When they are in earnest and mean breed- 
ing, the structure is much better finished off and of a more 
substantial character. The hen appears to do very litth^ 
until the nest is built and then she lines it with any soft 
material that happens to be at hand: paper which she tears 
in pieces, feathers and none too particular where they come 
from either! also moss out of the ordinary penny bags of 
nest material which you buy at the shops. 
Last year I had a mixture of good and Ijad luck: 
fortunate in having hatched out four Rufous -necked Weavers 
and five hybrid Senegal x Rufous -necked Weavers, and un- 
fortunate in that none lived more than fifteen days. Some 
were nearly fledged and others only five days old when they 
were found lying under the nests on the ground. Two or 
three l>ore marks of violence, but the others showed no marks 
of external injui-y. This was a great disapjtointnient, as I 
had my eye on a medal for the hybrids. Incubation lasted 
fourteen days, the eggs were hedge -accentor -blue and about 
two thirds the size of a blackbird's. The hen only fed the 
young as far as I know. Both the Rufous -necked hen and 
the Senegal would leave their nests as isoon as I entered the 
aviary in the morning, and again in the evening, waiting on 
the perch until I got the mealworm tin. Then in turn I threw 
them mealworms, which they caught and took to their family 
in the nest. This shows how tame my birds are. It is there- 
