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By Alexander Wetmore
Next to the canary, the weaver birds, or
weaver finches (Family Ploceidae), are among
the most popular of aviary birds, though here
we deal with a great variety instead of a single
kind. This is an Old World family of many
species that are handled easily in captivity.
Weavers range in size from small to tiny,
and are often of beautiful and striking plumage.
Like the sparrow tribe, they live on seeds and
so are easily maintained.
Enter the birdhouse in any extensive zoological garden, and soon you are certain to
find an aviary with a swarm of little birds that
fly continually from food trays to perches
or from place to place about the enclosure
in vivacious activity. These are weaver finches,
the group ordinarily consisting of several kinds
confined in company. In separate aviaries,
where they are not too much disturbed, they
often nest and rear young. The species in this
group, in the wild state, are most abundant in
Africa and in the Indian and Malayan regions.
Many years ago I saw in a bird store a pair
of handsome but tiny birds that the dealer
told me were strawberry finches (Color Plate
IV). They so intrigued my fancy that they
soon were mine.
The birds were sent home in the usual little
wicker cage wrapped carefully in paper. A
peep through the wrappings showed them rest-ing quietly, and a spare canary cage was soon
ready for their reception.
Great was our consternation when the tiny
strawberry finches in an instant darted into
the cage and out between the wires on the
other side, to take refuge like two little mice
beneath a table.
With some maneuvering they were captured
and placed again in the cage more carefully,
then left undisturbed for a time. Before long
they adopted the new home and from then on
made no attempt to leave. In fact, when
startled, they usually took refuge in the bottom, where they seemed to feel secure in the
shelter of the muslin screen around the lower
section of the wires.
Until the death of the female from some
obscure cause a few months later, the two
were tractable but timid; from that time on
the male seemed to enjoy human attention and
remained a household pet for years. His beautiful warbling song. heard when all was still
about him, was unusually attractive, the more
so, perhaps, because it was not repeated con-
stantly.
In aviaries scores of strawberry finches may
live together, perching in pairs or little groups
and nestling against one another contentedly.
Sometimes they fill a foot or more of a branch
or perch, chattering and preening, or resting
quietly. Newcomers to the line often light on
the backs of their companions and push and
crowd their way down to the perch.
The females remain plain in color always,
but the males change plumage twice a year,
the white-spotted, red feathers of the nesting period being replaced for several months
by a plain, dull dress much like that of the
female.
In its native home, from India to Java, the
strawberry finch, or amadavat (Amandava
amandava), ranges in thickets and grasslands
as well as about villages. The nests are small,
neatly made balls of fine grass suspended in
grass and bushes. The families are surprisingly
large, each nest containing from five to ten
white eggs. The species is naturalized about
Pearl Harbor on Oahu. in the Hawaiian Islands.
Originally appeared in the December 1938 issue of the National Geographic Magazine
This Web version COPYRIGHT 2004
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