NOTES ON BREEDING COLONIES OF THE RED‐BILLED QUELEA IN S.W. TANGANYIKA

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Abstract
Summary: At the end of the rains 1956, which were above average, large flocks of Quelea quelea nested at a density of about 5 per square yard in the Rukwa Valley, Tanganyika, in stands of long grass. The largest colony studied covered about 93 acres and contained about 2 J million nests. Observations were made on incubation, clutch‐size, hatching, feeding of young and the daily activity of the parent birds. The breeding was very successful and predators were scarce, though Buff‐backed Heron ate a lot of nestlings in one colony. A large number of juvenile birds were present in the colony, which suggests there had been earlier breeding. Five phases of the male plumage were collected in the colony, and it appears the Rukwa birds belonged to the race centralis. Rukwa breeding is therefore probably of more economic importance to East Africa than to Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa.

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