Birds of Gazalund. 85 



succession, one of its commoner flute-like notes as " Pipec- 

 whit ! pipee-whit!" with its many variations. I had the great 

 good fortune to pitch my camp on the Kurumadzi just beside 

 the haunt of one of these charming songsters, and I would lie 

 awake every morning before sunrise listening to its song. It 

 possessed a wonderful variety of notes, as even the following 

 renderings of only a few of them may serve to indicate : — 



'' Poplo-plivie, poplo-plivie,'^ repeated several times. 



*' Plivi-ploho, plivi-ploho, plivi-ploho, plivi ! " 



" Yupertruee ! yupertruee ! yupertruee ! " 



'^ Ho wheerdle ho whee-ho ! Ho wheerdle ho whee-ho ! 

 Ho wheerdle ho whee-ho ! Ho wheerdle ho whee ! " 



" Poppity jvvin!" (three times). " Whor-ho-hec ! " (re- 

 peated). 



Perhaps the most striking feature of the song is that these 

 notes are frequently accompanied by a high long-drawn 

 *'Wheee-wheee-wheee" or sometimes ^'Plee! heplee! heplee!'' 

 particularly at the end of the song, which usually begins low 

 and gradually increases in volume. I at first took this to be 

 in the nature of a duet, scarcely believing it possible that one 

 bird could produce both sets of notes at the same time, but 

 I have now had several opportunities of observing the bird 

 while singing, and have little doubt that it does so. 



Young birds trapped at the end of March had already 

 nearly completed the change to adult plumage. 



On the 12th December, 1906, 1 found a nest of this Robin 

 three feet from the ground, in the head of a thick branching 

 stump of " Umtalala'^ [Lecanio discus) overhanging the mud 

 at the edge of the pools near Chibabava, and, with other trees, 

 forming a dark tunnel by the meeting of their branches and 

 the sedge. The nest was formed externally of a quantity of 

 twigs and dry leaves loosely massed together and lined with 

 the fine midribs of dry leaves, and measured 2*8 inches in 

 diameter, with a cup deep in proportion (1-85 inches) and 

 coming to rather a point at the bottom. The eggs were two, 

 light reddish brown at first glance, though a close rexamination 

 of one of them shews that its rather uneven colour consists of 

 a conglomeration of fine cloudings hiding the gi'ouud-colour. 



