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BLACK-FACED BUNTING. MALE. 
Embereza Quelea. Lin . Syst. i. p. 310. 
Le Moineau a bec rouge de Senegal. Bris. Orn. iii. p. 110. 
Black-Faced Bunting. Lath . ii. p. 1. 192. 
These birds are represented the size of life. The bill is red, stout, and 
thick, like that of the Grosbeak, but the formation is truly that of the Bunt- 
ing; to which family, as Mr. Latham remarks, it certainly belongs. 
The forehead is black, the throat and cheeks are likewise black, the back, 
the coverts of the wings and tail are dusky in the middle, and have a ru- 
fous border; the throat, breast, belly, and coverts under the tail are a plea- 
sant blush colour; the quill-feathers dusky brown, with a rufous margin; 
the tail, consisting of twelve feathers, is likewise dusky brown, with a rufous 
edge ; the legs and feet flesh colour. 
A pair of these birds were presented to Lady Ducie, under the appro- 
priated name of Weaver birds ; which name they have acquired from this 
circumstance. A skein of silk having lain accidentally near their cage, 
and within their reach, they with great art, and indefatigable industiy and 
perseverance interwove it between the wires of their cage, so peifectly as to 
fill up the side on which they were employed entirely. 
