THE JOUJINAL 



OF THE 



SOUTH AFRICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' ONION. 



Vol. II. JUNE 1906. No. 1. 



IX. — Remarks tfpoti some li'dherto undescr'iJied or iirifi<jnred 

 Kggs of certain South African Passerine Birds. By John 

 A. BucKNiLL, M.A., F.Z.S., and G. H. Gronvold. With 

 Field-notes by the Collectors. 



(Coloured Phite : Frontisjiiece.) 

 Fig. 1. 



CoLiOPASSER ARDENS. (Red-collared Widow Bird.) 



The egg figured is one of a clutch o£ three taken at 

 Witpoortje near Johannesburg on the 4th December^ lUOi, 

 by Mr. F. J. Ellemor. A photograph and descri[)tion ot" the 

 nest by Mr. Ellemor appears in this Journal, vol. i. no. 1, 

 p. 18, and ])1. iii. 



The eggs were first described l)y the Messrs. Woodward 

 as being " little white speckled eggs." Major Sparrow took 

 several clutches in Natal [vide this Journal, vol. i. no. 1, 

 ]). .10), three o£ which are in the Bretoiia Museum; these 

 three clutches, each ot" three eggs, show little variation from 

 each other or inter se or from Mr. Ellemor's clutch. There is 

 another single egg in the Pretoria J\luseum labelled as of 

 this species, which is stated to have come irom Pietermaritz- 

 burg, but is of a different type and marking, and belongs I 

 think, without doubt, to C. procne (Great-tailed Widow Bird). 

 In the almost exact similarity of the twelve eggs of this 



VOL. II. 1 



