S7



on Birds and Nests in Uganda.



have a note not very dissimilar, and my informant may possibly

have been mistaken. The only dates I have of having identified

this bird are the 2nd of April, 1908, and the 10th of April, 1909,.

at Mubende and Kampala respectively.


The Willow Wren (. Phylloscopus trochilus ), again, is not an

uncommon bird in the migrating season, although the only times

I have been certain of its identification have been at Entebbe on

the 3rd of April, 1905, at Butiaba on the 17th March, 1907, and at

Mubende on the 20th of March, 1908.


I have not often been in a locality where Bee-eaters nest,

but have a record of finding a colony of that lovely red-breasted

species (Melittophagus frenatus) hard at work at Nimule on the

17th of February, 1906. The holes—some 60 in number—were

in the sandbanks of a stream, and some were not more than six

inches from the top of the bank ; they averaged about three feet

in length, and there was no lining of any sort to the nest cavity,

which was strewn with wings and indigestible parts of beetles.

In each of the two nests, which I was able to examine, I found

three young birds, varying so much in size that I came to the

conclusion that the bird must commence sitting on the first egg

she laid, like Parrakeets. A few days later, at Gondokoro, in

March, 1906, there was a colony of the brilliant pink Bee-eater

(Merops nubicus ) nesting.


Colies, or Mouse-birds, among the most attractive birds

to a stranger, not on account of their plumage which is very dull,

but their curious flight is at once noticeable, as they fly from

bush to bush, usually in small companies, one after another at

short intervals, a few beats of the wing being followed by a long

aeroplaning scoop, looking like miniature pheasants with their

long tails streaming behind. When disturbed they fly from a

bush with a great fluster. They are great fruit-eaters, and can

always be found when pawpaws and guavas are ripe. O11 the

1st of May, 1905, at Entebbe, I found a nest of Shelley’s Coly

('Colins affinis') in the middle of a thick clump of low bushes,

about four or five feet from the ground. The nest was composed

of a few small twigs outside with a thick lining of fine grass and

fibrous roots. Two young and a bad egg were found in the nest.

Honey guides are not uncommon throughout the protectorate



