Birds of Gazaland. 31) 



had consequently swallowed a considerable amount of latex. 

 It could not have lived much longer in the state in which I 

 f(jund it. 



Two eggs in my collection measure 16"5 by 12 mm. each, 

 and are pale grey in ground-colour, finely and uniformly 

 mottled with a slightly darker shade ot brownish grey. 

 Eight males, measured in the flesh, give an average of 5-25, 

 with a range oi: from 5*1 to 5*45 inches. A larva, small 

 beetles and flies, and other insect-remains composed the 

 contents of the nine stomachs examined. 



The bird referred to in my last paper as Cinnyris afer 

 (' Ibis,' 1907, p. 42) appears actually to be intermediate 

 between C afer and C. chalybdeus. Culmen 1 inch ; wing 

 2-4; tail 18; tarsus 0-64 ; red breast-band 0-52. Length 

 in the flesh 5*5 inches. A similar male, recently obtained 

 by Odendaal near Chiriuda, also measured 5'5 inches in 

 the flesh; culmen I'i ; wing 2'5 ; other measurements as 

 above. 



63. Cinnyris guttukalis. Scarlet-breasted Sun-bird. 



llh., P. I came across this handsome species on the 

 Kurumadzi several times during the first half of August last 

 year, and have also noted it occasionally in the upper Jihu= 

 In Southern Melsetter, though not one of our commoner 

 species, it is fairly generally distributed, and not infrequently, 

 during the past year, visited the "silky oaks'' (Grevillea 

 Banksii) which have been planted near Chirinda. Since my 

 return to England, Odendaal has sent me several specimens, 

 including males in immature plumage, which he obtained in 

 that locality during May. In Mafusi's country I have noticed 

 it in the Chikamboge Valley as well as on the surrounding 

 hills, where I found it breeding at 4000 feet in September 

 last, the nest being conspicuously placed in the branches of a 

 rubber-tree. At least one pair, or sometimes more, of these 

 Sun-birds are always to be seen in the banana- and rubber- 

 trees at Maruma, where they are fond of hanging completely 

 upside down like Tits, often both together, their feet grasping 

 the bases of the flowers while they systematically probe the 



