Ornithology of the Matopo District. 555 



materials; though not nearly so substantially built, but 

 occasionally a lot of trouble is taken, and a complete dome 

 is added. The sitting bird leaves the nest at the last 

 moment, and the native " piccanins'' sometimes catch the 

 bird with their hands on account of this. Nestlings 

 examined had greyish down on the dorsal tract and head 

 only, and were peculiarly spotted along the commissure just 

 in front of the gape. These markings consisted of a black 

 line with two most conspicuous pure white spots along the 

 side of the maxilla, and two black spots below on the edge of 

 the mandible. An idiosyncrasy noted is that, whereas equal 

 facilities are offered in the neighbourhood in the way of red 

 and black soil, it is almost invariably the latter which is 

 chosen for the site of the nest. Out of some dozens of nests 

 found, only one was placed on red soil, and in one case I 

 noticed two nests close together in a very restricted, isolated 

 piece of black ground ! Late in May I found this Weaver- 

 Finch flocked with Smith's Lark in great numbers. 



172. ^ Uraeginthus angolensis. Blue-breasted Waxbill. 

 Estrilda atiffolensis (Linn.) ; Scl. i. p. 10.2. 



Not uncommon on the surrounding veld, and more 

 numerous within the hills. lu February, I found a nest 

 about seven feet from the ground in an "umqogolo" tree, 

 but as a rule the site usually chosen is an "isinga." 



173. t Urseginthus granatimis. Violet-eared Waxbill. 

 Esti'ilda granatina (Linn.) ; Scl. i. p. 104. 



Somewhat uncommon, and I noticed it principally in the 

 " maqaqa''' country and foot-hills. 



174. Hypochera funerea. Black Widow-Finch. 



This is a rare bird with us, but I obtained a male (lacking 

 white patches on the back) in breeding-plumage on the 4th of 

 March, 1912, close to Matjanoyoni kopje. This bird, so far 

 as I could determine, was unattended by any little brown 

 mates. From the very glossy plumage it was evidently 

 referable to H. nigerrima Sharpe. On the other hand, birds 

 which I have shot on the Bulavvayo commonage were duller 

 and decidedly of the present species. 



SER. X. VOL. III. 2p 



