Some Birds I have Kept. 
243 
course of the season very many more than he can occupy 
himself. 
As res^-ards food and treatment : this is a simple matter; 
canary and white millet seed, with .^reenfood. and some live 
insects when they are feedini.;- youny, about completes their 
simple " Bill of Fare." True, they will i^reedily t^ori^e on 
millet sprays; pretty obects they are too while so en,^a,u,ed, but 
this is not essential, thoujL^ii formin,!:;- a welcome chang-e in the 
menu. 
I have never lived farther north than the midlands, and 
with me the weaver-tribe have always thriven out of doors all 
the year round. 
Whydahs : These also are a grand feature in a mixed 
collection, and, though I have not found them guilty of actual 
violence, they are a more disturbing influence in an aviary than 
cur friends the Weavers. In many aviaries the Pin-tailed 
Whydah has caused both serious confusion and tragedy. I 
have kept, but not bred, the following species : 
Pin-tailed Whydah (I'idua priiicif^alis). 
Queen Whydah {!'. rcgia). 
Paradise Whydah {Sfcganiira paradisca). 
Red-collared Whydah ( I^'cutlictria ardcus). 
Giant (Long-tailed) Whydah (Chcra procnc). 
Jackson's Whydah (Drcpanoplcctcs iacksoui). 
I did not, of course, keeji the five species in the same 
aviary all at the same time, in fact I make a rule of never having 
more than two species of whydahs in the aviary together, how- 
ever large the aviary may be. The Pin-tailed Whydah I always 
relegate to an aviary, in which large and vigorous species are 
kept, and there he can do no harm, but will suffer humiliating 
defeat if he prove too aggressive. 
Several species of whydahs have been successfully bred 
in our member's aviaries (W. Shore Baily, W. E. Teschemaker, 
Duchess of Wellington, etc.), and accounts of their successes 
have appeared in this Journal, and to these I refer my reader. 
Of the smaller whydahs the Paradise and Queen are my 
favourites, and I have never found either of these species to do 
any harm, even to the smallest waxbill. The Paradise is very 
self-opinionated, a failing not altogether unknown among genus 
Homo; he is well aware of his fine appearance when clad in his 
