474 Letters, Announcements, S^c. 



Macuopygia crossi, Trist., p. 144, 

 is my M. rufocastanea. 



Bird's-nest in a Horse's tail. — Capt. Saville G. Reid, R.E., 

 sends the following curious story to the ' Field ' of June 10th, 

 as vouched for by Veterinary- Surgeon Longhurst, of the 

 King^s Dragoon Guards. Capt, Reid feels " tolerably sure 

 the bird must have been a Cisticola, perhaps C. tinniens." 



'^ Interesting cases have been from time to time recorded 

 of extraordinary places selected by birds for habitation and 

 nesting; and I take this opportunity of bringing to your 

 notice a case which occurred when I was in camp at Fort 

 Napoleon, Conference Hill, Zululand, and which appears to 

 me to be unique. 



"A grey gelding cob, bought about the end of June 1879, 

 at Wakkerstroom, from Mr. Fawcus, a government surveyor, 

 whilst I was on special duty purchasing remount horses for 

 the Cavalry Brigade, was noticed at the time of purchase to 

 have a peculiar knotted condition of the tail. After arriving 

 at its destination at Fort Napoleon, several days' march dis- 

 tant, it was placed on the flank of the troop of King's 

 Drasroon Guards, to which it was told off. The next morn- 

 ing, after reveille, the non-commissioned officer in charge of 

 the troop noticed a little dark-coloured bird (known, I am 

 told by our interpreter, as a Weaver or Bottletit) fly and 

 conceal itself in the cob's tail just at the extremity of the 

 dock. Shortly afterwards he saw it reappear, settle near 

 some spilt forage in the picket lines, feed, and then return to 

 its former hiding-place. This roused the curiosity of the 

 non-com., who, accompanied by several of the men of his 

 troop, examined the cob's tail, and there found a perfectly 

 formed bird's-nest, about three inches in diameter, and about 

 six inches from top to base, beautifully lined with short 

 chestnut-red hair, which, upon examination, I found had been 

 collected from the red transport oxen, and not from chestnut 

 horses. The most striking thing which occurs to me is that 

 the little bird must have accompanied the cob from AYakkcr- 

 stroom, in the Transvaal, to our camp in Zululand, sufficient 



