SOUTH AFRICAN BIRDS AND THEIR DIET 



The warblers are all small birds, and their prey, in 

 consequence, consists of the smaller species of insects and the 

 eggs and small young of the larger kinds of insect life. The 

 warblers are in the front rank as destroyers of insect pests. 

 They take no payment at all for their invaluable services, as do 

 some of the species of other birds. To wantonly kill a warbler 

 or rob its nest is a mean and dastardly act. Warblers feed largely 

 on plant lice. 



The Rock Jumper. 



(Genus — Chcetops. ) 



Diet. — The rock jumpers, as their name implies, inhabit 

 rock-strewn slopes, hills, and mountain ranges, where they 

 prey upon the insects and their larvae which devour the sparse 

 pasturage of these localities. In doing this they render the stock 

 farmer invaluable services, and indirectly prevent the soil from 

 being denuded of vegetation, and as a consequence washed 

 away by rain, leaving the hills and slopes barren and bare. 



The Grass Bird. 

 '' Idle Dick " or '' Lazy Dick." 



(Genus — Sphenceaciis.) 



Diet. — Insects and their larvae which they find among the 

 low bushes, reeds, long grass, on the veld, valleys, hillsides, and 

 marshes. 



The Thrushes, Chats, Bush-Robins, and Ground 



Robins. 



(Genera — Tardus^ Erithacus^ Myrmecocichla^ Pratincola., Monti- 

 cola^ Saxicola^ Emarginala^ Thamnolcca.^ Cossypha., Cichla- 

 dusa.^ Tarsiger, and Erythropygia.) 



Diet. — All these genera of thrushes, chats, and robins feed 

 on insects of a great variety of kinds which are sought on the 

 wing, on the ground, in the scrub, shrubs, trees, and amidst 



VOL. II. 17 2 



