40 Uv. L. E. Ta\ lor oh hll/wrlo 



Anthus tenelus, (Golden Pipit.) 



cJ. Irene, near Pretoria, 15 January, HHjO. 



Length (ij" ; wing ^j}/' ; culmen j''^." ; tarsus l^," ; tail 

 91" 



Iris dark brown; bill: upper inandible dark brown, lower 

 mandible slaty-brown. [L. E. T,] 



This Pipit has only previously been recorded from between 

 5° N. and 5° S. lat., and is therefore a new addition to the 

 avifauna of South Africa south of the Zambesi. The yellow 

 plumage is most striking, the underparts being bright yellow 

 with a broad black baud across the chest. The wings are 

 also bright yellow, the tips of the primaries being black. 

 My attention was first drawn to it as it rose from the ground 

 close by the river. Its flight much resembled that of a 

 Wagtail, but its gaudy plumage and sharp-pointed wings 

 reminded one of Mellito'pluujus meridionalis (Little Bee-eater). 

 It is an exceedingly restless bird, and it was all I could do to 

 keep it in sight during about a quarter of an hour which 

 passed whilst my gun was being brought by a friend. From 

 the ground it flew to the very toj) of a willow tree, where it 

 was presently joined by a liird which I took to be its mate — 

 dull plumaged and very much like a Wagtail. The two 

 birds chased one another for several minutes and Anally 

 separated. The male alighted twice on the ground, and 

 always flew up on to the topmost branch of a tree. I 

 eventually shot it on the top of a willow tree about 50 feet 

 from the ground. The other bird — which I took to be a 

 female — unfortunately flew away and was not seen again. 

 Judging from the large size of the testes, I should say that 

 the bird had undoubtedly paired for breeding. The occurrence 

 of this species some 1250 miles from its hitherto known 

 southerly range is interesting, and rather unaccoimtable, as 

 it has, from its plumage, all the appearances of a typical 

 tro})ical bird. 



231. Parisoma rLUMBEr:\r. (llartlaub's Tit Babl»ler.) 

 A single specimen was procui'ed at Kaapmuiden, on the 



