BIRDS OF THE BUFFALO BASIN 207 



Cisticola tlnnicns (Liclit) — Levaillant's Gross-war 

 bier — has been known to inhabit our . area since Tre 

 velyan's day, but even yet its actual status in the Buffalo 

 Basin has not been determined. The bird is very much 

 rarer than Cisticola lais, but cannot be ranked among 

 the really scarce species. Five males and three females 

 — ^two with nests and eggs — were brought in by the boys 

 during my stay at Pirie; but in the fields I never felt 

 confidently able to discriminate tliis species without 

 handling it. All the specimens brought to me occurred 

 between tlie beginning of September and the end of Janu- 

 ary. 



The first nest, with female and four eggs, was obtained 

 on 11 December, 1908, and the second, with female and 

 five eggs, on 19 January, 1912. In the latter case the 

 nest was securely fastened in the fork of a strong '' ever- 

 lasting,'* at a point where four branches rising erect 

 formed a natural cradle to receive it. The nest was an 

 oval ball, with an elliptically-shaped entrance on one side 

 near the top. The basal portion of the nest consisted of 

 broad blades of grass, measuring up to five millimetres 

 in breath; inside w^as a receptacle of finer grass stems 

 with their fruiting-heads still attached and at the top 

 some withered masses of fine roots were entangled with 

 the grasses. The nest was lined with beautiful silvery 

 pappus. 



Each set of eggs is of a uniformi pattern, but the two 

 sets diff'er conspicuously in their ground colour, illus- 

 trating the variety which seems universal in this group. 

 In one set the ground colour is greenish-blue, and in the 

 other whitish; both types are finely freckled with vary- 

 ing shades of brown, forming a more or less distinct zone 

 at the larger end. The average measurement is 16 x 12 

 mm. 



The stomachs of specimens examined at Somerville con- 

 tained beetles. 



Cisticola lais (Finsch & Hartlaub)— The Eastern Grey- 

 backed Grass-warbler — differs from, the Knvsna form. 



