N e filing -I Libit s &;c. of Stmth African Birds. 1.'3 



nosts from October to January. The nest is usually in 

 bushes or trees near a river, and about four feet from the 

 ground. The clutch is from three to four eggs, of a bluish 

 green, covered, especially at the large end, with minute russet 

 spots, and resembling the eggs oi Pratincola torquata (South 

 African Stone-Chat). 



25. CiSTicoLA TEKKESTRis. (Wren Grass- Warbler.) 

 Eggs of this species of a bluish-green ground-colour 



spotted with large and small spots of slaty purple are as 

 common as white-spotted varieties. 



[This is a fairly common bird at Modderfontein, near 

 Johannesburg. The above variation was first noticed by 

 me in 1899, when I found at least half a dozen nests con- 

 taining eggs of the above-mentioned colours. — A. Haagner.] 



26. Sphenceacus natalensis. (Natal Grass-Bird.) 



This species nests in December. The eggs are similar to 

 those of S. africanus (Cape Grass-Bird), and number three 

 or four to the clutch. 



27. TuRDUS litsipsirupa. (Ground-scraper Thrush.) 

 The nest of this bird closely resembles that of T. iliacns 



(Missel-Thrush). I found a nest in a willow-tree, in a fork 

 quite thirty feet from the ground. It also nests in low 

 mimosa-trees. The clutch consists of three eggs of a pale 

 blue ground-colour, not white. It lays in September and 

 November. 



[The only previous record of the egg of this species is that 

 of a single specimen taken by a Mr. Lucas at Rustenburg, 

 Transvaal, and said to be of a shiny white ground spotted 

 with very dark and very pale purplish-brown blotches 

 (Stark and Sclater's ' South African Fauna,^ Birds, vol. ii. 

 p. 174).— A. Haagner.] 



28. MoNTicoLA EXPLORATOR. (Sentinel Rock-Thrush.) 

 At Mooi River, on the 1st October, 1903, I found a nest 



of this species under a flat stone on the side of a kopje, which 

 contained three bright blue very pointed oval eggs without 

 any spots — quite different to eggs of M. rupesfris (Cape Rock- 

 Thrush), although the nest was similar. 



