. The Avicultural magazine. Birds; Cage birds. 224 Capt. B. R. HORSBRUGH, with a large assortment of trap-cages and call-birds and two or three pots of bird lime. My captures for the day were seventeen Scaly - feathered Weaver Birds {Sporopipes sq2ia7niJrons), see Sta?'k''s Birds of S. AJrica, page 86, Vol. I,, and also a Tit Babbler {Parisoma snbcceruletmt) I find 5". sq7camifro7is a most attractive sporopipes sguamifrons, little bird in au aviarv, but very difiicult to from . of . jiica. j-gcoucile to Captivity. Of the seventeen I got on this occasion all died except one, which is now i
. The Avicultural magazine. Birds; Cage birds. 224 Capt. B. R. HORSBRUGH, with a large assortment of trap-cages and call-birds and two or three pots of bird lime. My captures for the day were seventeen Scaly - feathered Weaver Birds {Sporopipes sq2ia7niJrons), see Sta?'k''s Birds of S. AJrica, page 86, Vol. I,, and also a Tit Babbler {Parisoma snbcceruletmt) I find 5". sq7camifro7is a most attractive sporopipes sguamifrons, little bird in au aviarv, but very difiicult to from . of . jiica. j-gcoucile to Captivity. Of the seventeen I got on this occasion all died except one, which is now in splendid feather and health, and lives in company with three others I bought from one of my small collectors. In April last this little bird was breeding in the bush along the Modder literally in thousands. In one small acacia, or " wait-a-bit "^ thorn about 20 feet high, there were over two hundred nests, five of us counted to the our ability. All had eggs or newly- hatched young, and the noise reminded me of cicadas. We plucked some Guinea Fowl near our camp, and it was interesting to watch the procession of these little fellows, each with a big spotted feather in his pink beak, beating with all his power against the heavy wind that was blowing. Sp07'opipes sqiiamifro7is has just bred in my aviary, there was only one young one reared, which is now flying about with its parents. It is exactly like them, but has a dull yellow beak with a black spot on the end of it, and it lacks the shield of scaly feathers on the top of its head, from which the bird takes its name. April—the month when this species was breeding in the open—seems a queer time of the year for building out here ; it corresponds nearly to October at home and the nights are dis- tinctly chilly, but birds in general seem to have no fixed time for nesting here, and just breed when they feel so inclined, or what I expect to be the true explanation, when their particular food is most plentiful.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1894
