Expedition to the Zambesi River. 555 



1. Pitta ANGOLENsis* (Vieill.). 



A most difficult bird to observe. Ouly once did we catch 

 a glimpse of the browuish-greeu back of aa individual dis- 

 appearing into a thicket. Frequenting the tlnck woods, 

 especially where the soil is stony, and never taking to flight, 

 this Pitta tantalizes the listener by giving out its song — if it 

 can be so called — of four mellow notes, rapidly uttered as 

 it runs along the ground, sounding at times ventriloquial in 

 expression, and which might be likened to the syllables 

 " lop, lop, lop, pleeup,^^ often repeated. This song is com- 

 menced on the approach of the breeding-season, and during 

 that period it is uttered fitfully throughout the day, when it 

 is very often the only bird-voice to be heard in the woods. 

 Just before the threatening of a storm, the bird becomes 

 peculiarly persistent in its song. We first heard this Pitta 

 at Zumbo on November 8, and continued to notice it up to 

 the middle of January, when it became once more silent. 

 Probably it had then commenced to breed. 



2. CiNNYRis CUPREUS (Shaw). 



This Sun-bird is very partial to localities near the river 

 where patches of flowering weed grow, from which it is 

 with difficulty driven away, always returning to the same spot 

 after a short circuitous flight even more jerky and erratic 

 than that of C. gutturalis, a bird which is often found in its 

 company. It was close to the mouth of the Shire river, 

 where we landed on July 21 for our midday meal, that 

 we observed this species frequenting a strip of red-flowering 

 plant close to a cluster of native huts. After chasing the 

 birds to and fro for some time, they got to know our tactics 

 and became very cunning, dropping down at our approach 

 into the bottom of the weed, where they crept about like 

 mice. Towards evening they resorted to a belt of fish-cane, 

 through which they threaded their way after the manner of 

 Estreldas. 



Our four specimens were moulting, and two of them were 

 young males in the plumage of the adult female. 



* I have mainly adopted the nomenclature in Capt. Shelley's ' Birds of 

 Africa.' The measurements &c. given were taken in the field. 



