the Birds of Zululand. 227 



On tlie 13th December we secured the use of a tented 

 waggon and left this district. AVe outspanned above the 

 Hiabatiui Mountains on an extension of the lukonjeni 

 range, passed Moore's store near the Umfolosi, and soon 

 reached Melmoth. Next day, descending the deep cuttings 

 of the great Izulweni Hill, we pitched our tent in a pretty- 

 spot not far from the banks of the Umhlatusi. Everything 

 looked beautifully green here, and we soon obtained quite a 

 number of birds. The notes of the Glossy Cuckoos, Crab- 

 eaters, and Trogons, as well as the sweet song of the 

 Yellow-billed Thrush {Tardus libonyanus), were heard all 

 round, while in the reeds the scarlet Bishop-bird, the 

 Cabanis' Weaver {Hyphantornis cabanisi) — not hitherto 

 known so far south — and Kafir- Finches were busy nesting. 

 Many trees on the banks of the river were laden with the 

 hanging nests of the Common Speckled Weaver. In the 

 purse-shaped nests of the Bishop- birds were bright blue 

 eggs, the Cabanis^ Weaver laying white, and the common 

 variety more or less spotted eggs. We found also a nest of 

 Oriolus larvatus. It was well made of fine grass, fastened 

 to the underside of a forked branch and covered outside 

 with lichen, and contained three eggs, white spotted and 

 streaked with black. Here we shot an Oriole which answers 

 to Dr. Sharpens description of the young male of the Golden 

 Oriole, but we have not met with the latter in its usual 

 plumage. There may possibly be two distinct species. 

 Another bird which has been considered to be the female of 

 the Black Scarlet-chested Sun-bird {Cinnyris gutturalis), we 

 think, may be a distinct species; it is a brown-grey bird 

 with the scarlet chest. The black birds are always with us, 

 but the gi'cy varieties make their appearance late in the 

 spring, at which time we have shot many males in full 

 plumage. Among the long sedge-grass we shot some 

 Finches, black with yellow and white shoulders, which we 

 could not identify. On the other side of the river, near 

 Mr. Louw's Cross Roads Hotel, where the country is park- 

 like, we got some birds. Here the Fiscal Shrike is very 

 common, and we obtained the Wryneck {lynx pect oralis), 



