Birch of Gazaland. 41 



evidence as in the nests of C. chaJybaus. The clutch consists 

 of three eggs, var\ing from 17 to 18 mm. in length, and from 

 12 to 12'5 in breadth. They are very pale greyish brown or 

 greenish grey in ground-colour, in one clutch mottled, iu 

 the other clouded streakily and longitudinally with a slightly 

 darker shade of olive ; this colour iu each case almost com- 

 ])letely hides the ground-colour (as in the eggs of the Sedge- 

 AVarbler), and in the former is particularly noticeable as a 

 iaint zone round the large end. The parent birds in both 

 instances flew straight away from the nest and did not re- 

 appear, in this again differing from the two preceding species, 

 which usually shew not a little excitement. 



Nine of these birds gave an average in the flesh of 5*22 

 inches, with a range of from 5 to 5'5 inches. 



65. CiNNYRis OLIVACEUS, Olive-colourcd Sun-bird. 



Rh., P. With us this is almost a purely forest-species, 

 for though we may find it feeding on Leonotis along the 

 outskirts of dense bush or forest-patches, and though it has 

 taken to following my thorn-hedges and visits my banana 

 and Eucalypt plantations, I have never found it at any great 

 distance from thick bush, inside which, and especially iu 

 Chirinda and Chipete, it is often exceedingly plentiful. I 

 have only twice noticed it iu the Jihu, each time at the flowers 

 of Leonotis moUissima near the denser bush of the Kurumadzi 

 (this was early iu last August), and I have also noted it in the 

 Chikamboge Valley. It is an active little bird, seldom still for 

 an instant, and easily distinguishable from the female of any 

 other species, if only by its sharp constantly-uttered '^ cip- 

 cip ! ^' (Zulu ''c^^ *), which is also uttered in flight. It is 

 most tuneful, and on entering Chipete on any fitie evening 

 after sunset, particularly during the breeding-season (though 

 I find that it does continue to sing throughout the year), I 

 often enjoy a delightful chorus of its loud warbling songs, 

 proceeding from the higher branches iu every direction. 



* " c " and " q " throughout these notes, whether in native names or 

 in the calls of birds, represent peculiar Zulu click-souuds, the former soft, 

 tlu' latter sLiarp like the crack of a v.'hip. 



