ROBINS 



171 



eggs, usually three in number, are pale blue, thickly spoiled 

 and blotched with pale rust colour : sometimes this mottling 

 is arranged in the shape of a wreath round the blunt end of 

 the egg. 



The Noisy Robin-Chat (C. bicolor) is the Piet-myn-vrouw 

 in some of the Dutch districts, and the Mocking Bird of the 



Fig. 95. — Xest and eggs of Noisy Robin-Chat. 



Colonial boy. This species is conspicuously coloured, being 

 dark slaty-grey above and bright orange-rufous below ; 

 sides of face black. Length, 1\ inches. 



It is a fairly common bird in the bush country of the 

 Cape Province ; in the Grahamstown kloofs its musical 

 imitation of various bird-calls may often be heard. It will 

 imitate almost any bird-call, even the screech of the Crowned 

 Hawk Eagle. 



