744 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
coverts shot together. A curious belief of the natives is mentioned by Chubb 
on the authority of Reynolds, that several of these birds will unite to attack and 
kill small snakes, first picking out the eyes and then cutting the victim into small 
pieces which are carried to the nests to attract insects on which the young may 
feed. This is probably the same bird as Estrelda rhodopyga of Chubb’s list. 
Estrilda astrild occidentalis Jardine and Fraser. Banded Waxbill 
Estrelda occidentalis Jardine and Fraser, Jardine’s Contrib. Orn., p. 156, 1851: Fernando Po. 
Small, 4.5 inches; upper parts uniformly olive brown finely barred with dusky, including tail; 
bill and a small area around eye orange red; chin whitish, under tail-coverts black; rest of under 
parts finely barred with whitish and olive brown, faintly washed with pinkish. Female slightly 
duller than the male. Sierra Leone to Cameroons and Loango. 
There seems to be no previous record of this species for Liberia though Kemp 
has reported it from Bo in Sierra Leone, at the time (1905) a considerable ex- 
tension of its known range for it had not before been taken north of Fernando 
Po. Our specimen was an adult female shot by Dr. Linder at Bakratown in 
eastern Liberia on October 1. That it may have been about to breed is indicated 
by the fact that it contained a partly formed egg. Kemp notes that they feed 
on the seeds of a feathery grass cultivated by the natives as food. 
Vidua macroura (Pallas). Black and White Wydah 
Fringilla macroura Pallas, in Vroeg’s Catal., Adumbrat., p. 3, 1764: ‘‘East Indies”? = Africa. 
Body small, about 4 inches, but the male in breeding dress with the four central tail-feathers 
very long, about 8 inches; crown, area in front of eye, upper back, sides of breast, wings (except 
the coverts) and tail black, the last with inner edges of the short feathers white; lower back olive 
brown; sides of head, neck-ring, throat, breast, belly, upper and under tail-coverts, and a broad 
band across base of wing white; bill red. Female streaked brown and blackish above; below, 
whitish suffused with ochraceous. Senegal to South Africa. 
The males of this species in breeding plumage are conspicuous by their 
long slender tails which whip up and down after them in flight and seem to be an 
obvious impediment, for the males are soon outdistanced by the shorter-tailed 
females and younger males. These little birds are rather common about the rice- 
fields, and also come freely to the native villages, feeding on the ground among 
low weeds or in patches of bare ground. We saw them in small flocks in August 
and September, but though a female taken August 21 at Lenga Town had nearly 
ripe ova we did not see any signs of nesting. Males in adult plumage are about 
one to three of the dull-plumaged birds, but on September 13, at Gbanga, a 
flock consisting wholly of males was seen. 
ORIOLIDAE Old World Orioles 
Oriolus brachyrynchus brachyrynchus Swainson. Gray-winged Oriole 
Oriolus brachyrynchus Swainson, Birds West Africa, vol. 2, p. 35, 1837: Sierra Leone. 
Size of a thrush, 8.5 inches; head and throat black; back, innermost wing-feathers and their 
coverts, and two central pairs of tail-feathers olive yellow to yellowish green; outer wing-feathers 
black edged with gray, the tips of the primary coverts broadly white, forming a conspicuous spot; 
outer tail-feathers black on the basal half, broadly tipped with yellow; breast, belly, and nex 
tail-coverts yellow. Sierra Leone to Togo. 
