16 Mr. A. C. Haaguer — Birds' -nesting 



and others from the same nest almost white, the blotches 

 being very light in colour and sparsely distributed. I also 

 found in one of their nests an unknown egg, presumably 

 that of a Cuckoo {Chrysococcyx cupreus), which is known 

 locally as the " Diederic." The egg was smaller than that 

 of the real owner of the nest, and of a dirty white^ blotched 

 in the form of a ring round the obtuse end with purplish 

 and greyish brown. These Cuckoos are known to generally 

 deposit their eggs in the nests of Passer arcuatus ; which 

 knowledge, and the fact of seeing and hearing the bird in 

 the vicinity, made me think that it was the parent. These 

 birds have a loud and very plaintive call, which may be 

 described on paper thus — " dee-dee-dee, deederic " ! oft 

 repeated. At the same time I found several nests of a 

 Weaver-bird [Hyphantornis velatus), one of which contained 

 three eggs : two of a green colour blotched with reddish and 

 purplish brown, and one of a pinkish cream, blotched with 

 the same colours as the green examples. 



On the 15th of October I found a clutch of five eggs 

 of a Kestrel {Tinnunculns rupicoloides) in a large deserted 

 nest of the Secretary-bird (Serpentarius secretarius) , which 

 was used by tlie latter birds three years ago. The nest was 

 built in a mimosa-tree, and was constructed of stems and 

 twigs, some of the thickness of a man's finger. The diameter 

 of the nest across the top must have been 3 feet. In the 

 middle, in a hollow slightly lined with hair, wool, and rags, 

 the five pretty eggs of the Kestrel were deposited. It was a 

 sight to gladden the heart of any ornithologist ! The birds 

 being extremely destructive to chickens (when they get the 

 chance), I annexed the whole clutch. The eggs were rather 

 variable in coloration, two being of a cream-coloured ground, 

 thickly spotted and blotched with light and dark brown, and 

 three being of a pinkish hue, both ground-colour and blotches, 

 although the latter were, of course, of a much darker shade. 

 On blowing the eggs, I found that those that were pinkish 

 were fresh, whereas the others were addled; so I conclude 

 that the pink examples would have attained the same shades 

 as the brown had they been in the nest long enough. I 



