the Trans- Vaal Territm-y. 291 



Potchefstrooni. Ground covered with dense masses of tall weeds 

 is generally chosen by it for its breeding-place. The uest is 

 made of fine strips of green grass very curiously curled and 

 twisted together, attached to weeds some two or three feet from 

 the ground ; it is of an oval shape, well closed in, with the 

 exception of a small opening on the upperside, and is lined with 

 fine white down taken from grasses and plants. The eggs, 

 which are from two to four in number, vary much in colour. 



[Mr. Layard (B. S. Afr. p. 95) supposes this species to be 

 identical with tbe Motacilla subjiava of Gmelin (S. N. i. p. 982) j 

 but the latter being founded on a figure in the ' Planches Enlu- 

 minees ' (No. 584, fig. 2) which hardly admits of satisfactory 

 identification, I have preferred using the specific name pro- 

 posed by Vieillot for the present species, which is well figured 

 and described by Le Vaillant (Ois. d'Afr. pi. 127) under the 

 name of " Le Citrin."— J. H. G.] 



18. (L. 157.) Drymceca levaillanti, A. Smith. Le Vail- 

 lant's Drymceca. 



The nest of this species is attached to the upper parts of tall 

 weeds, amongst the leaves ; it is composed of very fine wool and 

 spiders' webs mixed with diy grass rather roughly woven to- 

 gether; the inside is lined lightly with the feathery down of 

 some sort of wild flowers. It is oval in shape, with the entrance 

 on the upper side, and has altogether a white, light, and pretty 

 appearance. 



The eggs vary much in colour, some being pure white with 

 dark pink spots, others pinkish-white with very fine small spots 

 of rather darker pink ; others, again, are pale sky-blue blotched 

 and spotted with pale pinkish -brown. 



19. (L. 176.) Calamoherpe rufescens (Keyserl. & Bias.). 

 Fig-eating Reed-Warbler. 



The nest of this species is a very extraordinary structure for 

 so small a bird ; it is a mass of seven or eight inches in depth 

 and four or five in diameter, with a small neat cup-shaped cavity 

 at the top, an inch and a quarter across ; it is composed princi- 

 pally of white feathers intermixed and bound together with pieces 

 of cotton, wool, and grass ; the tips of many of the feathers are 



