222 REV. ROBERT GODFREY 



our district. Tlie song, from which he derives both local 

 names, goes on without intermission all the year round. 

 It may be rendered kicect h-iceet Jcicec-ljool-oo, but is sub- 

 ject to much variation though always retaining a dis- 

 tinctive feature. ' ^Sircct potatoes' in\x\ be taken as a 

 very fair rendering Avhen the first note is not repeated. 

 On 21 Aug-ust, 1010, I heard a Tiptol in a fence at Pirie 

 singing a low chattering whisi)er of a song, which may 

 have been an attempt to imitate some other species. 



Its call consists of the first note of the song repeated 

 IcKcet, I'lceet, and is one of the main elements in the up- 

 roar of small birds that leads us to tlie hiding-places of 

 owls by day. 



Like the rest of his tribe the Tijjtol is an inveterate 

 fruit-eater. In the wild fruits of the forest and of the 

 bush-country he can find sufficient for his needs, and he 

 knows exactly tlie order of the fruits. In May he revels 

 in the berries of the wild currant, Rhus laevigata; in 

 June he haunts the gum-tree ; in July he is a conspicuous 

 attendant of the Red Aloe, feeding first on the nectar 

 and later on the seeds, and hanging sometimes upside 

 down as he feeds ; in August he visits the seeds of 

 Withania soiimifcra; in September he joins the throng 

 of nectar-loving birds that drain the Kafir boom of its 

 wealth, and in October he levies tribute from the lofty 

 spikes of the Cabbage-tree, Cussonia. On 12 June, 1008, 

 I saw a one-legged Tiptol feeding in a Wild Currant tree 

 and moving about with almost as much ease as a tit in 

 si>ite of his handicap. He would settle on the shaky un- 

 stable mass of berry-bearing twigs, flirt his wings jerkily 

 till he obtained a proper foothold. Having overcome 

 the difficulties involved in poising himself he would 

 pluck in succession a number (►f berries, flirting his wings 

 after each grasj) lo steady himself, or he would slide 

 right down a branch in somersault fashion, and, hanging 

 inverlcd yet quite at his ease, would pluck the berries 

 from a bi-anch below. 



