84- Mr. C. F. M. Swyniicrton on the 



meets with young birds in completely immature plumage late 

 in March. Last year this Kobin-Chat arrived either late in 

 September or early in October, and from that time on its 

 pleasant " Tree-tro ! Tree-tro ! " was to be heard everywhere 

 in Chirinda and Chipete. I had also good proof of its 

 imitative powers. Odendaal was ploughing on the outskirts 

 when he heard in the forest what he took to be a large Eagle, 

 which sometimes sails high overhead keeping up a long- 

 repeated modulated call, and, knowing that I required a skin, 

 sent for my shot-gun and did all he could ro find it, but 

 without success, though the notes still went on. The imita- 

 tion was certainly perfect ; I noted it myself the following 

 day at the same spot on the part of a Cussypha which I was 

 watching. It would occasionally exchange its " Tree-tro " 

 for the Eagle's whistle, which it would then usually keep up 

 for quite a long time. Six of these birds averaged 7'32 

 inches in length, with a lange of from 7*1 to 7'5, in the flesh. 

 Beetles, CW^25-berries, driver ants (^AnGmma sp.), and a small 

 wire-worm were amongst the contents of their stomachs. 



122. CossYPHA HEUGLiM. Heuglin*s Robin-Chat. 



}\h., P. As well as in most parts of Southern Melsetter 

 I have noted this Robin-Chat on the Tnyamadzi and in the 

 Nyahodi, Lusitu, and Haroni Valleys, and, in the low veld, 

 at Chibabava, where it is fairly common, and at Gwaragwara. 

 In the lower Jihu it is particularly plentiful, and, during my 

 stay there in August, quite a chorus of its songs, mingled 

 towards sunrise with the liquid calls of the various Bush- 

 Shrikes and the warbling notes of the Sun-birds, would rise 

 every morning from the jungle-covered slopes on either side 

 of the stream. It is by far our finest local songster, and, to 

 my mind, not one of our boasted English song-birds, hardly 

 the Nightingale, is to be classed with it for a moment. It 

 begins to sing just after the first streak of dawn appears and 

 continues to do so for little more than half an hour, ceasing 

 before sunrise in order to commence the day^s business. 

 During the remainder of the day it remains comparatively 

 silent, uttering only occasionally, perhaps a few times in 



