Tlie Black-hcadcd Sibia. 
situated about 25 feet from the ,m-ound near the extremity of 
one of the side bouyhs of the silver iir, about 12 feet out from 
the trunk. The situation was a very dillicult one, in that there 
was no other bough so placed that it would be possible to reach 
the nest either from above or below, without pulling it over so 
much as to endanger the contents. 
.-\fter a great deal of consideration and reconnoitring, 
the plan adopted was to fasten a rope to the trunk of the tree in 
such a way that the boy was able to use it to bear the greater 
part of his weight while he crept out in monkey fashion along 
the bough on which the nest was actually built. The bough 
sagged in a very dangerous manner, dangerous both for the 
boy and the eggs, as he went creeping, but he was just able to 
secure the nest and the solitary egg which it contained. After 
the disturbance we had made and the time we had spent over it 
I did not dare to leave the egg for the clutch to be completed, 
as the bird would almost certainly have deserted. When we 
arrived. I think she was sitting on the nest, and once 1 saw her 
in a neighbouring tree, but she disappeared and was no more 
seen. 
The nest was a neat and beautifully rounded, though 
rather loosely built cup, measuring about 105 m.m. across, with 
an internal diameter of about 65 m.m.; the depth of the cavity 
was roughly 40 m.m. It was composed of dry grasses, stems 
of maidenhair ferns, and pine needles, mixed with a little green 
moss, seed cases of some tree, and similar substances. There 
was no lining- 
The egg measured 25.5 m.m. by 18 m.m. ; it was of a very 
faint greenish blue in ground colour, spotted and speckled 
sparingly, but mostly towards the broader end, with lilac brown 
of two tints. 

Hybrid Whydahs. 
By W. SHOKit Baily. 
In 1915 I sent you, in perfectly good faith, an account of 
the breeding of the Red-collared Whydah (Pciithctria ardcns), 
