Bocage's Weaver distribution, type locality circled
Introduction
Bocage's Weaver was formally described by Jose Vicente Barbosa du Bocage, a Portuguese zoologist and politician. He was curator of the Lisbon Museum, and described several other weavers.
Bocage's Weaver was collected by Jose Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta, a Portuguese explorer and naturalist, who collected a large number of birds in Angola.
In 1867 the Portuguese government hired Anchieta as a naturalist but probably also as a secret agent and informer in the Caconda region of Angola. Anchieta lived in Caconda, explored the area and sent many specimens and letters to his scientific correspondents in Lisbon. Anchieta discovered Bocage's Weaver near Caconda, at the south-western edge of the range of this weaver. Anchieta sent a crate of specimens to Lisbon of 126 birds collected between 1879-80, including a single male specimen of Bocage's Weaver.
The Latin name of Bocage's Weaver refers to the olive mask on the face ("temples"). The first English name was simply translated to Temporal Weaver Bird, but later authors gave an English name after the describer of the species.
The first illustration of the Bocage's Weaver was of the type published in Shelley (1905). The second illustration for the species was a photo of a nest, published by Hall (1960).
Weaver Watch
