38 
Whydahs. 
African cage-birds and has been known from the earliest days 
of bird-keeping, but for all that there are but few records of any 
of the Combasous having been bred in confinement. Like the 
other Whydahs they are polygamists. and 1 have seen it some- 
where suggested that they may be parasitic also in their nesting 
habits, as is probably the case with the Pin-tailed Whydah. 
However that may be, 1 do not think it is so, as a rule, at any 
rate with H. chalybcata. the common Combasou of the Gambia, 
where I know them well. 
In the Hand List the genus is divided into 9 species, but 
some of them can hardly have a right to even sub-specific rank, 
for their differences in many cases merely depend on variations 
(often very slight) in the colour of the gloss on the black of the 
adult breeding plumage, at the best a doubtful and frequently 
variable characteristic. Shelley distinguishes two groups, a 
northern and a southern, the former (chalybcata and ultra- 
luariiia) having the wing and tail a much darker brown than the 
latter (amaitroptcryx and its neighbours). 
The name " Combasou " is an old one, having been 
originally used by Vieillot in 1805 in his " Oiseaux Chanteurs." 
From his time to date it has been and is the generally used name 
for these birds. In Senegal and the Gambia the Joloff name for 
the bird (i.e. for the black cock) is " Koumba-suban," which 
as evidently tiic origin of Vieillot's name. The other common 
native name in the Gambia for the male is the Mandingo "Sanna 
Fintong," which means " Black Sam." The hens and out of 
colour cocks have no special native name, being merely classed 
with all other plainly clad small birds, as " little birds." 
The generic name, Hypochcra. is spelt either with a 
dipthong " as " or a long " e." The latter would appear to be 
the more correct, as derived from the Greek " Chera, Chere," 
(a widow = vidua) and also the earliest. 
❖ 
THE COMBASOU. 
Ih'puchcra chalybcata. ILL. v. 437. 
Synonomy. 
I 
Le Combasou. VIL 1805. 
