Birds of Gazaland. 23 



males, flashing about iu the sunshine and " rattling their 

 little chains " amongst the sedge^ Avere one of the character- 

 istic features of the spot. Though it was already the end 

 of November many of them appeared not to have yet com- 

 pleted the change to breeding-plumage. Two males measured 

 51 inches each in the flesh and two females 48 each. The 

 stomachs examined contained seeds, beetles, a spider, and 

 other insects. 



31. Pyromelaxa flammiceps. Fire-crowned Bishop-Bird. 

 Pyrumelana fiammiceps, Shelley, B. Afr. iv. pt. 1, p. 104. 

 I am not sure whether it is this or the preceding species that 



is the common Red Bishop-Bird of the Gazaland highlands. 

 I noted P. fiammiceps in the reeds bordering the Buzi at 

 Inyamita, and I have in my collection two males : one 

 shot in the Chikamboge Valley on August 20th, 1899; and 

 a second which was brought to me at my Gungunyana home- 

 stead in May 1906, together with a number of other live 

 seed-eating birds which had been trapped by a native in the 

 neighbourhood. 



This species has not previously been recorded from 

 further south than the Zambesi E-iver, where it was obtained 

 by Kirk, Alexander, and Stoehr. 



32. PyROMELANA CAPENSIS XANTHOMEL/ENA. 



Chindao : '' Chikwea '' (applied also to the Red Bishop- 

 Birds). 



Rh., P. A species common enough throughout all the por- 

 tions of Gazaland which I have yet visited, high veld and low 

 including the lower slopes of the Chimanimani Mountains, 

 where I found males in intermediate plumage at the end 

 of September. In the breeding-season the male may often 

 be seen perched alone on the top of some small tree. This 

 species, like so many others, shews a decided preference for 

 grass-jungle, but even Avhere this is not available it by no 

 means confines itself to tie neighbourhood of Avater, as in 

 parts of Mashonaland. The nests are commonly attached 

 to the stems of rank reed-grasses {Sorghum nutans and a 

 Fennisetum), clumps of Avhich commonly grow on ant- 



