232 Mr. Guy A. K. Marshall on 



in a jerky erratic manner, making at intervals a loud snapping 

 noise with its wings, which can be heard at a considerable 

 distance, even when the bird is almost out of sight. It makes 

 a beautiful little nest of spiders'-web and white down, in the 

 shape of a long bag, open at the top, and attached at the 

 sides to stems of long grass, which are drawn together all 

 round, and thus conceal it. The eggs are usually four or 

 five in number, but a nest I found at Estcourt, Natal, and off 

 which I caught the female in a butterfly-net, contained 

 seven; six of these being of the normal colour, white with 

 rusty-brown blotches and underlying spots of purplish grey, 

 while the seventh was white sparsely covered with small 

 black spots. 



39. CiSTicoLA NATALENSis. (Natal Fantail.) 



A solitary bird, but fairly common, both in the open 

 veldt and in bush, though preferring the former where the 

 grass is long. 



40. CisTicoLA suBRUFicAPiLLA. (Grcy-backcd Fantail.) 

 This species is the commonest of the genus round Salisbury, 



occurring right in the town and breeding in the small bushes 

 that grow on the termite-heaps. The nest is fairly sub- 

 stantial, foi'med of woven grass, domed and with a slight 

 porch ; the outside is often bound wdth spiders'-web, and it 

 is thickly lined with white down. The eggs are usually 

 four in number and of a pale blue colour, with numerous 

 small freckles and spots of rich purplish brown and pale 

 yellowish brown, and underlying spots of violet-grey ; the 

 markings are chiefly confined to the larger end, often 

 forming a zone, and occasionally a distinct cap. If the nest 

 is disturbed the birds will often remove the eggs. 



41. PiNARORNis PLUMOSUs. (Sooty-browu Chat-Thrush.) 

 Mr. Ayres observed only two examples of this rare bird 



on the Umfuli river. 



42. Crateropus jardinii. (Jardine^s Babbling Thrush.) 

 These noisy and restless birds are found commonly along 



all the streams in the country in flocks of six or eight, but 

 they also occur among rocky kopjes at some distance from 



