172 
BROAD-SHAFTED WHIDAH-FINCH. 
Vidua paradisca, Cdvier. 
PLATE XI. 
Black ; body beneath, fulvous ; nape, sides of the throat and 
breast, rufous-orange ; two middle tail-feathers (in the 
male), short, broad, and spatulate, terminating in loug fila- 
ments. 
Emberiza paradisea, Linn.Auetorum . — Grande Veuve d’ Angola, 
Planch. Enl. 194; Edimrds, 86. — Whidah Buntling of au- 
thors, Gen. Zool. 418. 
Op all the genera composing the family of Weavers, 
this is the most striking. It is composed of very 
small birds, mostly not larger than canaries. The 
males, during the breeding season, are decorated 
■with exceedingly long tail-feathers, often four times 
the length of the bird itself, and which, however 
ornamental, must, from their disproportionate size, 
rather impede the action of flight. Little or no- 
thing is known of the habits and manners of the 
Whidah Finches in a state of nature, hut they 
have always been among the most favourite cage- 
birds ; and although not very frequent in the houses 
and aviaries of this country, they are common' in 
those of France and other parts of the continent. 
Numbers of these, and of the other pretty little 
