92 Mr. B. Alexander — An Or/iil//o/(>(/ica/ 



On Augnst 18 I found a nest, lined ^vit]l Guinea-fowls 

 feathers and containing four eggs. It was cemented to tlie 

 side of a large rock overhanging a pool near the river. To 

 get at the ncst_, it was necessary to swim across to it, but the 

 pool was deep and ugly-looking, and my native boy did not half 

 like the idea, talking of crocodiles, so I did not press him. 

 The next day I shot a Guinea-fowl out of a flock close to this 

 same pool, and the bird fell into the water ; in a second it 

 was drawn under by a crocodile. 



The song of this species is pretty and Swallow-like, and 

 often uttered from the tops of rocks in mid-stream. 



By the time October had come, the young were abroad. 



121. HinuNDo PUELLA (Temui. & Schl.). 



This Swallow is also a resident on the Zambesi. The nest 

 is a curious structure. "While at Zumbo in December we 

 had an opportunity of examining one. It was cemented to 

 the ceiling of an inhabited room of a house to which the birds 

 gained ingress by means of the window, and they made a 

 great fuss whenever this entrance w^as denied to them. The 

 nest might be likened to a long-necked decanter sliced down 

 its centre, the neck serving as a tunnel by Avhich the bii'ds 

 reached the nest. The total length was about a foot, of 

 •which the tunnel took 3 inches, while the depth of the actual 

 nest was 6 inches. 



122. HiRUNDO MONTEiRi (Ilartl.). 



Not found on the lower reaches of the river, and it was not 

 until we had left Chicowa that we fell in with this handsome 

 Swallow. On October 19 a party was observed flying round 

 a tall baobab-tree. Both in appearance and the manner in 

 which they circled in the air, executing graceful curves without 

 a beat of the wings, they reminded us very much of the larger 

 Bee-eaters. The entrances of holes in the baobab-trees are 

 generally chosen for their nests. 



Near Zumbo, on December 2, we discovered a nest cemented 

 to the bottom of a gaping fissure in the stout limb of a 

 baobab-tree. It was rather a deep structure, and made of 

 mud. 



