Whydahs. 
37 
habits, as is the case with so many of the otlier species iiientioneJ 
above, 1 tiiul notliint', on record. 
0 
BOCAGE'S FAN-TAILED WHY UAH. 
Urobi-achya hocagci. ILL., v. 413. 
Synonoiiiy. 
I 
Bocage's Widow-bird. Oranye-shouldered Whydah. 
II 
Pcnthctria axillaris (nec Smith) Bocage. 1867. 
I' ruhrachya bucagii. Sharpe. i.S/i. & Cat. 226 & Sli. B. Afr. 
Fcnthctria hocagii (Boc. 1877-81). Coliuspasser bo:- 
agii (Sh. 1886). ' 
U. atJiiiis. Cab. 1881. 
incchozvi. Cab. i88r. 
Range. Angola, Beitguela. Alossamedes. 
Rkflrk.nck.s. Sh. iv. 70. & (afjinis) Plate. 30. fig". 2. 
B.S.A. i. 136. Butler, i. 192. 
In this species the shoulder-patch is a rich orang'e shaded 
with yellow, and in some specimens wholly yellow. Such a 
\ariety is that of the plate given by Shelley, who considers it a 
colour variety of U . axillaris caused by a life in captivity. Little 
or nothing" is known of its wild life but it is occasionally imported 
as a cage-bird. Shelley writes (p. 63) that the bird he figures 
was one which died in the Berlin Aquarium and that " there are 
" two similar specimens in the British Museum, both of which 
" were cage-birds, one in the Zoological Gardens, London, 
" and the other in the possession of the well-known avicultur- 
" ist, Mr. J. Abrahams." 
^ 
THE COMBASOUS. 
These differ from the other Whydahs in their smaller size, 
in the absence of any red or yellow in the breeding plumage of 
the adult male, in their i"iesting sites (usually holes in roofs etc.) 
and in their eggs, white and not coloured as ii"i the other genera. 
In their general habits, however, they resemble the rest. 
One species is among the commonest of the small West 
