106 On the Birds of Gaza/and. 



During February and March of the present year the 

 present species and Psalidoprocne orientalis, usually our two 

 commonest Swallows, entirely disappeared for several weeks 

 from the immediate neighbourhood of Chirinda, but were 

 found meantime in considerable numbers only a few miles 

 away on the upper Umswirizvvi, where doubtless the food- 

 supply was temporarily more abundant — shewing that 

 apparent migration may be very local. 



150. HiRUNDo MoxTEiRi. Montciro's Swallow. 



P. I saw one of these fine Swallows hawking backwards 

 and forwards over a small pool at Indabila in the low 

 veld on December 19th, and again noted it at Zinyumbo in 

 January. 



The stomach of my specimen contained only two or 

 three flies. 



151. Psalidoprocne orientalis. Eastern Kough-winged 

 Swallow. 



Rh., P. This is one of our commonest Swallows about 

 Chirinda, and was particularly plentiful on the Kurumadzi 

 during my visits to that river both in August and in 

 November. It was equally abundant at Maruma, where I 

 used to see it daily in large companies in September, and, 

 in the same month, I noted it on the Lusitu. It seems to 

 perch on trees to a greater extent than most other Swallows, 

 and individuals of the flock which haunts Chipete may 

 frequently be found settling, especially towards sunset, on 

 the barer branches of the "^ Mutsawhare" {Catha edulis) and 

 other trees on the edge of the forest-patch. They are very 

 tame, permitting one to pass under the branch on which 

 they are resting, often three or four together, either sitting 

 meditatively till the inclination seizes them to dash forth 

 again, or employed more usefully in preening their feathers ; 

 first one wing, then the other, goes up with a pretty flash of 

 white to allow the bill to get at the axillaries. They may 

 often be found hawking low over the grass at nightfall, 

 uttering constantly two notes, a short chirp, and a '^weeping" 

 note, which is a slightly harsher and louder edition of that 

 of Zusterops ander.^son'i. Two of the males in my collection 



