Volume 17, Plate XII / Ornithology (Birds)

Red-Billed Widah

Vidua erythrorhynchus

A whidah smaller than its paradise relative, an aberrant species with a shorter, thicker bill and four greatly elongated middle tail-feathers that close into a sort of cylinder. The adult is deep glossy blue-black on crown and back with a pure white nuchal collar and a large white wing patch, the under parts white with a half-collar of black, and a black chin spot in the Senegal specimen.