74. Pin-tailed Whydah When in breeding, this flashily-dressed little bird, with his ostentatious red bill and ridiculously long and elaborate tail, is something (quite a lot, actually) of a ‘ladies’ man’. He goes to great lengths to impress the females of his species, spending much energy showing off – what ornithologists call, more politely, ‘displaying’ – to females, trying to persuade them of his strength, aerial agility and beauty, which is to say, the virility of his genes. He commands a prominent high look-out post and proclaim his presence to any females feeding on the ground below. Calling to entice them to come and join him, he has a special chirp that does the trick. Any female who considers him worth investigating will join him, and watch his fantastic fluttering dance in the air in front of her. If that works (it by no means always does), she will fly up and he will mate with her in mid-air, an almost instantaneous matter, and the business is done. She will then leave and, in due course, search for a convenient nest – often the Common Waxbill’s – to secretly lay her egg. For the Pin-tailed Whydah is a brood parasite: parents play no role in rearing offspring. Birds of AFRICAMA House 152 Birds of AFRICAMA House 153