10 Major R. Sparrow on the 



8. Amblyospiza albifrons. (Thick-billed Weaver Bird.) 

 The entrance to the nest is halfway up one side. The eggs 



usually number three^ and are either of a white ground-colour 

 with small red spots chiefly at the larger end or of a pinkish 

 ground with dark pink blotches and spots. 



9. EsTRiLDA ASTRILDA. (Common Waxbill.) 



There is invariably a small nest on top of the main nest, 

 j)resumably for the cock bird's use. 



10. Amadina erythrocephala. (Red headed Weaver 

 Finch.) 



I found a nest with two fresh eggs at Bothaville on the 

 31st July, 1901. 



[Bothaville is in the O.R.C., on the Valsch River. — 

 A. Haagner.] 



11. Pyromelana capensis minor. (Lesser Black-and- 

 Yellow Bishop Bird.) 



This subspecies nests on the hill-sides in Upper Natal in 

 long grass and small bushes, about three feet from the 

 ground, in the early part of December, and lays three to 

 four eggs resembling those of P. capensis. 



12. Coliopasser ardens. 



The Red-collared Widow Bird usually makes its nest in 

 long grass on hill-sides, frequently in company with Fyro- 

 melana capensis minor and C. procne (Great-tailed Widow 

 Bird). The eggs, laid in December, are of a bluish-green 

 ground-colour spotted all over with blue-black, especially at 

 the larger end. Clutch three. 



13. Passer diffusus. (Southern Grey-headed Sparrow.) 

 A pair of these birds built in the verandah of a house at 



Newcastle, Natal ; and on the 7th December, 1902, I took 

 three eggs slightly incubated. They w^ere covered with 

 blackish-brown blotches and streaks, and resembled in size 

 and shape the eggs of the English P. montanus (Tree- 

 Sparrow) and were a good deal smaller than the eggs of 

 P. arcuatus (Cape Sparrow). The nest was untidy, and 

 composed of grass lin(Mi with feathers. 



