Compact Weaver non-breeding adult & female, figure from Sharpe (1890)
Compact Weaver nest, figure from Chapin (1917)
Compact Weaver distribution, type locality circled
Introduction
The Compact Weaver was formally described by George Ernest Shelley, an English geologist and ornithologist.
Shelley had 2 specimens of the Compact Weaver. An adult female specimen was donated to Sharpe's collection by entomologist William Wilson Saunders, and this specimen is now in the British Museum. The second specimen was a non-breeding bird collected in Accra, by Shelley who visited Ghana from mid January to March 1872 to collect birds.
The first illustration of the Compact Weaver was published in Sharpe (1890) of the two type specimens, a non-breeding adult and a female. The next illustration relating to this species was a photo of its nest published in Chapin (1917). The breeding male was first illustrated by Bannerman (1949).
Weaver Watch
