HAMMERHEAD 139 



lining it with white vegetable down. The eggs — usually 

 three in number — are pale bluish-green in colour, marked 

 with reddish-brown, but they vary considerably in colour, 

 like those of many of the Warblers. 



The Cisticolce (Grass Warblers) are a large group not 

 easily distinguished from one another by the tyro ; they 

 build circular or oblong-shaped nests woven of grass, warmly 

 lined with down or wool, much after the style of the Widow- 

 Birds. 



For more information on this extremely difficult group 

 we must refer the reader to the text-books. 



HAMMERHEAD 



We now come to the last species we will deal with in this 

 chapter, viz. the Hammerhead (Scopus umbrella), usually 

 called the Hammerkop or Paddavanger (Frog-catcher) by 

 the South African. 



In its characteristic brown garb, crested head and long 

 legs, it is a familiar figure along the shores of water-courses, 

 vleis and dams, where it may be found singly or in pairs 

 cutting its queer capers, or on the prowl for frogs and small 

 fish. 



It constructs a huge nest of sticks and mud ; first a 

 saucer-shaped foundation about 3 feet in diameter is built 

 of large sticks thrown together and cemented with mud, 

 either on a rock by the side of a stream, or more frequently 

 in the fork of a tree. Upon this foundation a circular dome- 

 shaped structure is erected, containing a round chamber 

 (sometimes two). It is a solid compact structure, with a 

 round entrance hole just large enough to admit the bird, 

 usually situated on the most inaccessible side. The top is 

 often decorated with old tins, rags, bits of plank, and we 

 have even found dead birds, old bits of skin, &c. Whether 



