Al! Rights Resen'cd. February, 1921. 
BIRD NOTES: 
THE 
JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB 
Some Whydahs in My Aviaries. 
By \V. Shouf. Baii.y. 
1920 proved as bad a year for its breeding results with 
my Whydahs as it did with any of the other groups kept in my 
aviaries. 
Tliese birds generally do very well with me, and, as our 
readers will perhaps remember, I was the first to breed the 
Jackson Whydah (Dcprojioplcctcs jacksoiii) in this country, and 
I have also recorded successes with the Red-collared Whydah 
(Pentlietria ardcns). Last season my collection included: 
White-winged [Urobrachya albunotata). 
Yellow-backed (Poitlictriopsis nwcnira). 
Crimson-ringed (Coliostruthus laticauda). 
Red-collared (Penthcfria ardens). 
Giant (Choera procnc). 
From these five species not a single young one was fully 
reared. The White-winged Whydahs made many nests in the 
long grass. These nests — very flimsy structures — were 
fastened to the grass stems, generally from a foot to eighteen 
inches above the ground. No eggs were laid, and I am not 
at all sure whether the hens will eventually prove to be cocks, 
although they are not. as 3et, showing any signs of changing 
colour. 
The Red-collared Whydahs were more successful, for 
tliese did hatch out two clutches of eggs. Their first nest was 
built in a laurel; the same bush in which a Yellow-backed 
Whydah hen reared young, when mated with a Red-collared 
cock, some years previously. Two glossy green eggs, heavilv 
splashed with various shades of brown, were laid, and these were 
duly hatched, the two young birds living for about a week, when 
