Notes from tJic Transvaal. I'Jl 



Their principal food appears to be various seeds and grain of 

 any sort. 



The first appearance in summer-dress is about three weeks 

 before the dates above given, and often much less. The cry 

 is a kind of grating cliirp, rather brisk and not unlike 

 " tchwirt, tcliwirt." In my ojjinion tliese birds rank amoiig 

 the most beautiful of avian species, the brilliant orange- red 

 and glossy black forming a grand contrast. 



2. PvROMELANA TAHA. (Talia Bisliop-bird.) 



The nesting-habits of this species are nearly the same as 

 those of its congener, P. oryx, only it seems to prefer the 

 rank weeds that border the vleys and dams to reeds. The 

 eggs are four or five in number, and of a pure white, speckled 

 with tiny dark-brown dots. They are a good deal smaller 

 than those of the preceding. Axis }«"-{//', diam. j'^" (17- 

 ]8 mm. by 11-12 mm.). In 1897 I found a good many nests 

 among the rank weeds at the bottom of our garden, just 

 bordering a spruit. In flight tliese birds puff up the feathers, 

 giving themselves the appearance of balls of gold floating 

 in the air. In 1899 I noticed them in large numbers on 

 an arljoining farm, whereas in former seasons scarcely half 

 a dozen were to be seen. They are fairly common this year 

 at Moddcrfontein and in the neighbourhood. 



3. Ceryle rudis. (Pied Kingfisher.) 



This species is not common hereabouts, although I have 

 seen a few pairs every season. On the 18th Febrnary, 

 1899, while dissecting a specimen which I had just shot and 

 skinned, I found in the stomach a large number of bones, 

 which on examination proved to be the phalangeal bones of 

 a frog's pes and manus. These birds frequent the banks of 

 dams and spruits. 



4. Caprimulgus rufigena. (Rufous-clieeked Nightjar.) 

 In the year 1898, while shooting on a farm near Kaalfon- 



tein Station, I got an example of this species. In a paper 

 on " Protective Resemblance in Birds, as observed in South- 

 African Species," read b}' mc at a meeting of the Johannes- 



