204 REV. ROBERT GODFREY 



found intermingling with scrub, there the Xeddikv may 

 be found. In the dense forests a cry is heard which might 

 readily be mistaken for the cry of this bird, but Mr. John 

 Koss tells me that the deceptive cry comes from the Yel- 

 low-throated Flycatcher. There is therefore no proof at 

 present of the occurrence of the Neddiky in the heart of 

 the forest belt, but it reappears above the forest line. It 

 has long since adapted itself to the changes brought 

 about by civilisation, and creeps fearlessly along the 

 fences and through the vegetable plots around our homes. 



Its most characteristic feature is its monotonous icecp. 

 This call, which is variously rendered in my note-books 

 as tyilp, tceelp. tyeep and ween, has been very aptly 

 likened by Mr. D. Adamson, of Livingstonia, to the creak- 

 ing of an ungTeased w^heel-barrow. From early morn 

 till after sunset the monotonous sound goes on intermit- 

 tently, constituting all the year round one of the most 

 familiar voices from the scrubby hillsides. The producer 

 is generally perched on a slight elevation, but may not 

 infrequently defy detection. 



This call may be preceded by a sound like ^9^ lengthen- 

 ing the cry to ts-iveen. This ts seems to be the ordinary 

 call-note, most suitably represented by the Kafir c click. 

 Fi'om this call is derived the Kafir name of neede, which 

 has in its turn given birth to the colonial Neddiky. When 

 the birds are wildly excited over the approach of an in- 

 truder to their young, they give vent to their alarm in a 

 cry resembling the Kafir q click, which is sometimes so 

 hurriedly repeated as to produce a rattle suggesting that 

 of the European wren, 



In feeding on the ground the bird hops, and as it hunts 

 it clicks to itself and jerks its tail in the spasmodic 

 fashion characteristic of its tribe and described under 

 C. aberrans. Though essentially a grass-bird, the Ned- 

 diky often flies up into a comparatively high tree, and, 

 after surveying its surroundings from the lofty outpost, 

 descends again to the gi'ass. 



