67. Baglafecht Weaver This bright yellow and brilliantly black bird is one of the most frequently seen in the Africama garden. The taxonomy of the Baglafecht Weaver, as recorded in my guide book, is an example of ‘lumping’. In the case of the Grey-backed and Green-backed Camaroptera, the book went with the ‘splitters’, recording these two as distinct races of Camaroptera. The name ‘Baglafecht Weaver’, by contrast, now includes as one species birds that were previously regarded as distinct: Reichenow’s Weaver, Emin’s Weaver, and Stuhlmann’s Weaver. One wonders who or what it was that, in the end, awarded the species to Baglafecht rather than to Reichenow, Emin or Stuhlmann; and why. Interestingly, the differences in plumage between what were formerly distinct species appear, at least to the eye of the ordinary beholder, significantly greater than the differences between many birds that are un-controversially considered distinct. But appearances are not the only, or even perhaps the most important, criteria for taxonomists: for example, populations that live in distinct and non-overlapping regions and come to differ in appearance may still turn out to be able to interbreed, and so be recognised as a single species. Birds of AFRICAMA House 138 Birds of AFRICAMA House 139