o
I
•a
?!
if [
The Long-Tailed Whydah. 287
a sharp sliower of rain, or in a strong wind, tliey are scarcely able to fly,
and can be easily knocked down; when flying they very gracefully arch the
tail. They leave their nuptial district in the Transvaal about the end of
April or the beginning of May."
Mr. AV. L. Distant says:—"These long tail-feathers appear to offer a
direct hindrance to flight, and the birds always seemed to proceed with
difEculty and great encumbrance, like a Court lady dragging a heavy train."
Messrs. Sharpe and Layard write:—"We are informed that in the breeding
season, when the male has assumed his nuptial livery and long tail-feathers,
his flight is so laboured that the children constantly run him down. They
are quite unable to fly against the wind and in rainy weather can hardly
be got to move out of the thick bushes in which, knowing their helplessness,
they conceal themselves. The Kaflir children stretch bird-limed lines across
the fields of millet and Kaffir com, and snare great numbers of the males,
by their tails becoming entangled in the lines. We are told that they breed
among rushes and reeds, like Pyrovielana oryx"
Mr. Henry Bowker w r i t e s " This bird seldom interferes with our cornlands,
and is mostly found on the open flats; it builds its nest in long grass
close to the ground, and the points of the grasses are drawn over and tied
at the top like the frame-work of a native hut. The tail of the male in the
breeding-season is not an inconvenience to him. He never, in fact, seems to
enjoy himself so much as during a high wind, in which he shows off to
advantage, spreading his tail out like a fan. I should say the average is ten
or fifteen females to one male."
The following observations are from the author's note-book:—"Riding
once between Table Farm and Grahamsto^vn with Dr. Atherstone, I saw what
I took to be a black silk neckerchief drifting down to us in the strong wind
from a house on a hill some 300 yards from our road. I called the attention
of my companion to it, when, with a laugh, he told me it was a Kaffir fink.
The description was complete! as he came near, I saw he was drifting at a
prodigious rate; his wings flapping round and round like mill sails, and his
tail spread in a compact mass. He appeared quite capable of guiding himself, for
he took good care never to let me get within shot of him, though I tried hard :
but I shall never forget the queer black object. Harford says the Zulus set a
high value on their tails. Doubtless they are used to decorate the heads of the
warriors as represented by Angus and other painters of Zulu battle-fields."
Mr. Ayres gives the following account of their breeding habits:—"The