Birds of the Buffalo Basin 39 



kraal, and no boy who respects the prosperity of his father's 

 cattle would think of throwing his stick at a wagtail. Nowadays, 

 however, the bird is not absolutely immune from the boys ; one of 

 my little hunters, in sending in a nest with three eggs, left the 

 message that in my absence from home he had eaten the bird. 

 Away from houses this wagtail is found just as widely distri- 

 buted. Alongshore, it searches the exposed rocks. By inland 

 water it finds abundance of insect food on the river margins and 

 devours even fair-sized tadpoles. Its call resembles " cheek chee- 

 eek,** but a feeble trill, partaking occasionally of the nature of a 

 song, is also frequently uttered. In the latter half of August the 

 wagtcils begin building and are busy at nesting-duties till February. 

 The rest may be built by the side of a stream, quite in the wilds; 

 but very often it is hidden among the ivy covering the wall of 

 a house, or it may even be placed under the leaves of a kaifir hut. 

 The nest is a loose structure, sometimes of large size, depending 

 for its shape and its support on the cavity in which it is placed. 

 The outer portion, consisting of dry grass, both fine and rough, 

 with small tufts of vegetable material, intermingled with pieces of 

 wool, string, an odd feather and a few leaves, forms a rim round 

 the base of the chosen site and assumes in front a bolder edge, 

 thus creating a convenient hollow for the irmer cup or nest proper. 

 This cup is formed of narrow grasses and plant stems, with a 

 few leaves, feathers and bits of rags; and the inner receptacle on 

 which the eggs rest consists of a thick layer of cow's hair, with 

 some wool and feathers. The eggs, three or four in number, 

 measure 22 x 15 mm. The creamy ground colour is thickly over- 

 laid with undefined spots and blotches of pale brown. In 1 909 a 

 pair of these wagtails built in a flower-pot outside Miss Duns- 

 more's* office window at Elmgwali Girls* School and afforded 

 that lady the opportunity of determining the incubation-period. 

 The first egg was laid on 1 7th December, the second on the 1 9th, 

 the third on the 20th, and the fourth on the 21st. The eggs 

 were hatched on the early morning of January 4th, giving an 



♦(This lady, subsequently Mrs. Howie, heroically volunteered 

 in her widowhood for the Gold Coast and died there in 1922, a 

 few months after landing). 



