Birds' Nests. 51 



district, especially as the general breeding season for the 

 birds was over. Of the 141 species of birds which we 

 identified only four or five appeared to be nesting. A 

 small lark,* which lived on the ground and continually 

 sought the shade of some bush, made the neatest of little 

 nests in the dry mud by the river. The nest was a small 

 shallow '' cup " composed of dry gi^ass and a few^ bits 

 of cotton, while round the cup was a compact and neatly- 

 arranged layer of particles of mud. Only one egg was 

 laid. Two species of doves were also nesting. The nest 

 and eggs of onej of them were much like those of our 

 Turtle Dove. The other, § which was a pretty little long- 

 tailed bird, built an exceedingly slender nest even for 

 a dove. It was round in shape and only 3J inches in 

 diameter. The two eggs were of a dark creamy colour. 

 The young were most quaint objects lightly covered 

 with whitish down. The smallest|| of the many shrikes 

 which we found was the only one breeding. I watched 

 a pair at work on their neat chaffinch-like nest, which 

 was placed in a fork of a horizontal bough some 30 feet 

 up an acacia. The birds brought material at intervals 

 of a minute or less during the considerable time I 

 watched them. They invariably sat in the nest and 



* Fi/i-rhulauda otoleuca (Temm.) % Turtur amUguus, Boc. 

 § Oena capensis (Linn.) || Nilaus afer (Lath.) 



