I'.lUnS OF rilK r.lFFALO I5ASIX IZi 



the open grasslands. It frequents also the edges of the 

 mimosa scrub and where suitable conditions exist it 

 ranges from the shore-links to the mountain-slopes. It 

 is a much more brightly coloured bird than any of its 

 pipit relatives, and, when perched on a mimosa bush; the 

 bright orange chin, separated by a black semi-circular 

 band from the yellow of the lower parts, shews up to 

 full advantage. 



This long-claw has a very distinctive mewing call me-yi, 

 which it utters generally in flight as it flies low across 

 the grass, fluttering along with its white-edged tail at 

 full spread. In addition, it utters from its perch on a 

 termite-heap or on a bush a far-reaching whistle, which 

 is so suggestive of human origin that a wanderer across 

 the veld may well be excused if he looks round to dis- 

 cover the person who is calling him. 



The prolonged nesting-period, from the middle of 

 October till the latter part of February, suggests that 

 the species is double-brooded. The first nest examined 

 by me was shewn me by a boj^ on 29 October, 1908. Amid 

 the short grass of the veld the birds had discovered a 

 patch of longer vegetation, and in the centre of this patch 

 had scraped out a hole to the soil below; in the cavity 

 so formed they had built a cup-shaped nest of withered 

 grass within the shelter of arching gTass overhead. The 

 nest w^as a comparatively firm structure, with some 

 rougher and looser grass on the outside to keep it in 

 position ; it was lined with a thick layer of fine roots and 

 measured in inner diameter across the cup 89 millimetres 

 by 57 deep. Neither bird made any display at the nest. 

 Othtr nests examined have sometimes contained black 

 horse hair as part of their lining. 



On eight different occasions the boys have brought me 

 the female along with her nest. Whether the male as- 

 sists in incubating the eggs remains unsettled. As in- 

 dicated above the birds are undemonstrative at the nest; 



