COhUDM COLIUS 97 



direct flight, compared by le Vaillant to an arrow shot from a bow. 

 The Mouse-bird feeds entirely on fruit and is generally to be seen 

 in a garden as soon as figs and loquats, of which it is specially 

 fond, become ripe ; during the fruit season they do a good deal of 

 damage in the western portion of the Colony. At night time they 

 are stated by Ayres to roost head downwards in small companies. 

 Shelley found a nest at Pinetown in Natal on March 15. Stark 

 at the same place on December 18. In the latter case the nest, 

 which was placed on the top of an orange tree about fifteen feet 

 above the ground, was an open one, resting on and suiTounded 

 by twigs of the bush ; it was rather small and was loosely built 

 of pieces of bark three or four inches long, of the Kaffir tea-plant, of 

 a flowering weed and small twigs ; it was lined with green narrow 

 fronds and leaves. There were three quite fresh eggs in the nest, 

 and there were enlarged eggs in the ovary of the female which was 

 secured, the clutch is therefore more than three, probably five to 

 seven. The eggs are rough and were probably originally chalky- 

 white, but are a good deal stained with dirt. They are ovals 

 somewhat pointed at the acute end, and measure on an average 

 0-92 X 0-62. 



Mr. Ayres was the first to notice this bird's habit of lining the 

 nest with fresh leaves, and suggested that perhaps dampness was 

 necessary for incubation. 



424. Colius capensis. White-backed Mouse-bird. 



Loxia colius, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 301 (1766). 



Colius capensis, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 812 (1788) ; Grill, K. Vet. Ahad. 

 Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 45 (1858) [Oudtshoorn] ; Gurney, in Andersson's 

 B. Damaraland, p. 202 (1872) ; Holiih d Pelv. Orn. Siid-Afrihas, 

 p. 136 (1882) ; Sliarpc, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 552, 853 (1882-4) ; 

 Shelley, Ibis, 1885, p. 310. 



Colius erythropus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 842 (1788) ; Burchell, Travels, 

 i, pp. 213, 335 (1822) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 221 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 

 1868, p. 247 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 259 [nv. Potchefstroom. ] 



Le Coliou a dos blanc, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. vi,p. 391 (1808). 



Colius colius, Sharj^e, Cat. B. M. xvii, p. 343 (1892) ; Shelley, B. Afr. 

 i, p. 118 (1896). 



Description. Adult. — Above, crown, the feathers of which are 

 decomposed and elongated to form a crest, mantle, wings and tail 

 dark ashy with a slight lilac tinge ; down the centre of the back a 



7 VOL. III. 



