Birds of Gazaland. 13 



yellow coloration. The nests were of much the same shape 

 and materials as those o£ H. nigriceps, and were slung from 

 the ends of the reeds and the drooping twigs of a shrub 

 (Sesbania punctata) common at the water's edge. A male 

 w^hich I secured measured .ll) inches in the flesh ; its bill was 

 jet-black, its irides were orange-red, and its feet light reddish 

 brown. The stomach contained only a small portion of a 

 beetle. 



13. HvpHANTORXis jA.MKSOxr (Sliarpc). Jameson's 

 Weaver-bird. 



Ploceus xanthups jamesoni, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. iii. p. 90. 



Singuni: " Ihloka-hloka." Sitagra capensis of former 

 paper. 



Rh., P. A. high-veld species which I have not so far 

 observed lower than the Jihu and Mafusi's country. In 

 Southern Melsetter it mav often be found feedins; araonast 

 the high weeds in old gardens, and it builds both along 

 streams and in grass-jungle, the nest in the former case 

 being firmly bound to the side of a tall reed (or sometimes 

 slung between two) by means of the shredded leaves of our 

 common date-palm {Phoenix dactyllftra) . This material, 

 tough and springy, also enters largely into the external 

 construction of the nest, only a few heads and stems of grass 

 being worked in besides. In tall grass-juniile, however, the 

 nest is often entirely made of coarse grass-blades, and slung, 

 by the centre of its convex side, from the slender outer twig 

 of some tree. The interior is warmly lined, the dome more 

 thickly than the bottom of the cuj), doubtless with an eye 

 to rain, with the fluffy white heads of a coarse-bladed grass 

 [Tricholcena rosea) which springs up commonly in cultivated 

 fields after abandonment. Several of these white fluft'y 

 heads almost invariably protrude from the porch and add an 

 ornamental finish to a nest which is, in any case, bv no 

 means so neat as that of Sitagra ucularia, owing, [)artly, to 

 the greater width of the palm-strips employed. Occasionally 

 other grasses, especially a common Diplachne, are also used 

 in the lining. In form the nest rather resembles that of 



