BIRDS OF THE BUFFALO BASIN 210 



on the forest edge into a little gap among the trees. 

 There a i)air of these bulbuls were warily hunting for 

 insects among the branches, and as soon as either bird 

 came too conspicnonslv into sight it Avould suddenly 

 dart off into shelter. 



Between the 2nd of March and October 17th, however, 

 I have often heard what I took to be the cry of this bird : 

 it somewhat resembles the one-note song of the Anvil- 

 bird, but is much more rapidly uttered and may very 

 well be represented by the Kafir sound nqu, from which 

 the Kafir name of the bird, urn nqu, is derived. 



The nest, authenticated by the snaring of the bird, has 

 been brought to me on two occasions, on 14 December, 

 1909, and on 9 December, 1911. It is cup-shaped and 

 formed of closely- oppressed layers of dead leaves and 

 broad grass blades up to nine millimetres in breadth; 

 externally and on the rim bright green moss forms an 

 adorning girdle, and some exceedingly fine thread-like 

 stems, perhaps of asparagus act in part as a binder to 

 keep the material together. The lining consists of coils 

 of a wiry plant-stem. 



The eggs, two in number, are stone colour, thickly 

 blotched at the larger end with dark brown, with lighter 

 blotches and dark lines occurring in the same zone and 

 more sparingly elsewhere. They measure 25 x 17 mm. 



The stomachs of birds examined by me have contained 

 insects, grubs and seeds. 



The Sombre Bulbul — Andropadus iinportinius 

 (Vieill.) — is one of the noisiest, if not also one of the 

 commonest, of our bush-birds. It ranges throughout the 

 forest area and over the mimosa districts and occurs even 

 in isolated strips of cover in bare country. In our dis- 

 trict this species is universally distributed. 



The Sombre Bulbul is distinctively a fruit-eating bird, 

 and comes to our orchards mainly for the sake of figs 

 and apples. When Avorking on such a large fruit as an 

 apple, the bird simply sits beside the fruit and hews 



