80 Mr. C. F. M. Swymierton o7j the 



During the latter months the bird may frequently be seen 

 perched on the top of a Pannarium or other small tree in 

 the open grass^ slowly repeating " Trvveeee ! trweeee ! " &c., 

 each note being accompanied by a nervous little movement 

 of the wings and answered sometimes by the same note from 

 another tree^ often at some distance away. 



The contents of ten stomachs examined were larvae, mostly 

 large, a mantis, a small centipede, small ilies, grasshoppers, 

 and beetles, chiefly the latter, including two specimens of the 

 Colasposoma which is so destructive to our young cypresses 

 and eucalypts. Seven birds measured in the flesh, and vary- 

 ing from 525 to 6'25 inches, gave an average of 5*9. 



113. Heliolais erythroptera. 



Heliolais erythroptera Reichenow, Vog. Afr. iii. p. 570. 



P. On August 10th, 1906, 1 shot a male of this species in 

 grass-jungle on the Kurumadzi, elevation 2000 feet ; it was 

 one of a pair which were moving about and feeding in com- 

 pany with one of the usual loose flocks of small birds, and 

 on the 12th I secured two further specimens at about the same 

 spot. They were very conspicuous birds, the creamy white 

 of the breast and the bright chestnut wing-patch being recog- 

 nisable at quite a distance, and they were by no means shy 

 or retiring in tiieir habits, moving about high in the grass- 

 stems and sometimes settling in trees. Their note, which was 

 frequently uttered, was a loud smart '' Pce-pee-pee-pee-pee ! " 

 a little like the commoner call of Apalis thoracicus. 



In the low veld I noted this bird at the Zinyumbo pools 

 on November 25th, and on the following day in open bush on 

 the Mwangezi River, while later again I saw it near Chim- 

 buya. Length in flesh 5'2, 5*35, and 5'o inches respectively. 

 My specimens shewed some variation in the colour of their 

 bill, the upper mandible in two cases being light brownish 

 grey, the lower paler grey, while in the other two only the 

 base of the latter was whitish and the rest of the bill dusky 

 brown ; irides (of all) ochreous-orange, eyelids the same, but 

 duller ; feet light sienna-yellow in three, in one palest 

 oranore-brown. The four stomachs contained beetles and 



