Birds of Gazaland. 53 



7^. Dryoscopus guttatus (Hartl.). Hartlaub's Shrike. 

 Dryoscopus mosambicus (Finsch & Reichw.). Mozam- 

 bique Shrike. 



Singuni : " Icivana " (Zulu '^c"). 



Rh., P. Both these forms occur commonly hei-e, and the 

 ditf'erence in their plumage is probably largely a matter of 

 age and sex. That they are one and the same species, I have 

 very little doubt, as I found them breeding together on the 

 Kurumadzi on November 22nd, The nest contained one 

 young bird with only two white-edged secondaries in each 

 wing. I waited and shot both parents : the male, like the 

 young birdj had only two white-edged secondaries; the female 

 three white-edged secondaries in each wing and a whitish 

 breast. An. examination of the sixteen skins in my collec- 

 tion confirms this view. 



This Bush-Shrike is particularly plentiful in grass-jungle 

 country (as at Mafusi's, where I specially noted it as common 

 at Maruma and in the Chikainboge Valley, also on the 

 luyamadzi) and especially so throughout the lower Jihu, 

 where one constantly hears its calls or catches glimpses of it 

 in the long grass, in spite of its skulking habits. In the low 

 veld I have seen it only on the Umtefu River. An individual 

 with a dark breast daily frequented the clearing round my 

 camp on the Kurumadzi, and, as I would not permit it 

 to be molested, it became exceedingly tame after a few 

 days, hopping in and out amongst my grass shelters and' 

 sometimes right up to the door of my tent, with its head first 

 on one side, then on the other, or occasionally erected to utter 

 a harsh note, not unlike the tearing of cloth ; it appeared to 

 obtain a plentiful supply of food from the newly cleared 

 ground. I found several nests of these birds in the same 

 locality during November ; these were placed at from four to 

 seven feet from the ground (mostly recently-burnt jungle) 

 and without any attempt at concealment, in such places as 

 the centre of a burnt bare tangle of Rhoicissus zanzibarensis, 

 on supporting twigs against the bark of a large Pterocarpus 

 or Acacia, in the fork of a small tree, &c., and in general 

 appearance much resembled those of Telephonus seneyalus. 



