20 Mr. R. H. Ivy on the Nesting 



heavy bush or sometimes on the side of a krantz or precipice, 

 suspending the nest from a runner or creeper. The fabric is 

 unmistakable at first sight, being more like that of a spider 

 on a large scale than anything else. The inside and central 

 portion, with the sheltering porch, are neat and compact, 

 while it is lined with down-feathers and other fine materials ; 

 but around the whole, and often hanging down in a dangling 

 manner for some inches below, is a loose mass of dead leaves 

 and twigs, all interwoven with cobweb. In fact, though the 

 nest be quite new, it often looks like some weather-worn 

 cobweb-structure. The eggs are stated by Stark to be two 

 in number, and mottled and spotted ; but according to my 

 experience they are from three to five in number, and of a 

 rich coffee-brown, without markings of any sort. There 

 must be an error somewhere. 



5. Upupa africana Bechst. ; Salv. Cat. B. xvi. p. 14. 

 This Hoopoe nests in hollow trees, also in ant-heaps. The 



eggs, four or five in number, are of a creamy fawn-colour. 

 The nesting-season is from October to January. 



6. Irrisor viridis (Licht.) ; Salv. Cat. B. xvi. p. 17. 



I have found this bird nesting in the deserted hole of a 

 Woodpecker in a " yellow-wood '^ tree [Podocmyus), also in 

 euphorbias, in November and December. The eggs are 

 three in number and blue in colour. The bill of the young 

 is much shorter than that of the adult. 



On another occasion, at Fish-River Randt, in December 

 1894, I found this bird making use of a deserted nest of 

 Parus afer in a hole in the trunk of a sanga (Cusconia) . On 

 felling the tree we found three eggs, but only one not 

 broken. 



7. Indicator sparrmanni Steph. 

 Indicator indicator Shelley, Cat. B. xix. p. 5. 



On the 4th of November, 1894, I saw one of these 

 birds leave a nest of Hirundo albigularis. An examination 

 showed that the nest contained two small white eggs of the 

 Swallow and one large oval egg of the Honey-guide. 



