BIRDS OF THE BUFFALO BASIN 200 



favourite plant is a strongly-scented everlasting. Within 

 this loose outer shell a lining of finer grass and wiry 

 stems may be set in the bottom of the cavity; the whole 

 interior is then lined with white vegetable down obtained 

 apparently from the flowers of everlastings and with a 

 little wool. An undamaged nest measured 104 mm. in 

 extreme height, 65 mm. from back to front and 05 

 mm. from side to side, all measurements being external. 

 The full clutch of eggs is four. 



The eggs taken at Pirie exhibit great variation in 

 colouring, as well as in the amount and the intensity of 

 the markings. Some are unspotted white, others of an 

 unspotted light blue; others again may have their ground- 

 colour of white or vaiwing shades of blue, covered with 

 fine freckles or well-marked spots or blotches of various 

 shades of brown with occasional steel-grey markings. In 

 some cases the markings tend to form a zone at the larger 

 end. The measurements vary from 16 to 18 mm. in length 

 by 12 to 13 mm. in breadth. 



SpJienoeacus intermedlus (Shelley) — The Eastern Pro- 

 vince Grass-bird — bears in Kafir the appropriate name 

 of itshitsM, or '' The Skulker." This is no doubt the form 

 obtained at East London by Kickard. At Pirie the 

 species is not uncommon, though rarely seen. It lives 

 by preference in the thick rank vegetation bordering the 

 forest, and occurs above the forest as well as below it. 

 It ventures also into the mealie fields and occasionally 

 may be seen perched on a mealie-stalk. When its hiding 

 place is approached too closely, it is not averse to taking 

 to flight: it rises above the level of the grass, and after 

 a flight of twenty or thirty yards, or sometimes much 

 less, it plunges into its ambush again. 



On a single occasion, 8 August, 1913, I saw one sitting 

 openly on the top of a bush and singing repeatedly. 



Nesting begins at the end of October. Eggs on the 

 point of hatching have been brought to me on November 

 26. The nest is a deep cup of dried grass, 63 mm. across 

 by 47 mm. deep internally. It is quite an artless structure, 



