42 Mr. C. F. M. Swynnerton on the 



In the morning, whilst feeding, its song is more intermittent, 

 a few notes only being uttered at a time ; then Avith a " cip- 

 cip-cip " it will take a flight after an insect or to another 

 twig, then come a few more notes and another flight, and so 

 on. In the spring I have sometimes heard the male employ 

 a loud frequently-repeated piping note as he chases the female 

 in and out of the higher branches. As a general rule the 

 bird may be found in the greatest numbers amongst the 

 undergrowth of saplings and shrubs ; of these, Achyrospermum 

 Carvalhi and Macrorungia pubinervis, both with brilliant 

 scarlet flowers, are particularly attractive to it. In 

 feeding at these flowers or at those of the Leonotis it 

 grasps the stem below the flower-head, and, without moving 

 its feet, darts its bill rapidly into each flower in succession 

 until it gets about halfway round, when it shifts its feet and 

 does the other half; while thus engaged it frequently utters 

 a quiet " chiirr," but if an intruder comes suddenly or 

 roughly into sight it flies off" a few yards with its usual 

 " cip-cip " note, though its full term of abuse is a loud 

 " Churrr-chiiwe-chiiwe-chLiwe-chUwe-chii-chii-chU !" (French 

 " u " throughout) . 



I have already described the nesting-habits of this bird, but 

 as I have this season examined between twenty and thirty 

 more of its nests, most of them containing eggs, it may be 

 well to add a few further details. The egg practically does not 

 vary at all : in only two cases have I found anything but the 

 pale bluish or greyish-white ground-colour and sepia and 

 grey markings already described ; in these two clutches the 

 ground-colour was white and the maikings consisted of fairly 

 numerous short streaks and spots of light grey only. In the 

 more ordinary type the sepia markings are sometimes so 

 dark as to be to all intents and purposes black. I have 

 never found an egg approaching the type of coloration 

 described by Layard and quoted by Captain Shelley (' Birds 

 of Africa/ vol. ii. p. 124). The nest varies more. It always 

 hangs loose from some drooping twig, usually in Chirinda that 

 of Sclerochiton Harveyanuniy a shrub with small leaves which 

 in some parts forms the main undergrowth. It is placed 



