Birds of Gazaland. 31 



a pair were running about on tlie newly-sprung sward, and 

 perching continually on the scattered iDoulders with Wagtail- 

 like movements of the tail. Birds, measured in the flesh, 

 varied from 6-25 to 7 inches. Bill, upper mandible dusky 

 brown, lower ochreous or pinkish white, brown at tip ; iris 

 dark brown ; feet pale brown, tinged with pink or yellow. 



54. MoTACiLLA VIDUA. Soutli-At'rican Pied Wagtail. 

 Rh., P. Not an uncommon species along river-banks, and 



on open roads or other cleared grounds in the vicinity of 

 water. I have met with it at various points in the Melsetter 

 district, as well as on the lower Inyamadzi and in the Ceara 

 rubber-plantation at Chibabava. A stomach examined 

 contained beetles and larvse. Length in the flesh (of one 

 individual) 8'12 inches. 



I have also noticed a yellow Wagtail, probably either 

 MotacUla jlava or M. campestris, on the upper Buzi, near 

 the Chipinga police-camp. 



55. MoTAciLLA LONGicAUDA. Grcy-backed Wagtail. 



P. I watched a pair o£ these attractive Wagtails for some 

 time at certain rapids on the Kurumadzi on August 7th, 

 and finally shot the male. They would fly up the river with 

 a long graceful flight, uttering all the time a j^leasant call, 

 and settle on the rocks in mid-stream, searching there for 

 food and keeping up the usual Wagtail-motion of the tail. 

 I only once saw one settle on a reed. I observed another 

 pair on the Inyamadzi in September, and a third on the 

 Mwangezi at the end of November. My specimen measured 

 7"85 inches in the flesh. Feet light grey. The stomach 

 contained small insects. 



56. Pkomehops gurneyi. Natal Long-tailed Sugar- 

 bird. 



E,h. Mr. L. C. Meredith, of Melsetter, first informed me 

 that a Sugar-bird was common in the scrub-grown kloofs in 

 that neighbourhood, and on September 21th I secured three 

 specimens. Subsequently I saw a number of others, the 

 flowers oiFaurea speciosa and of a Protea (near P. abyssinica) 



