26 The Oohgists' Record, June i, 1922. 



the Shire River, and, noticing a pair chattering about the roof, I 

 presently found the nest between the galvanized iron of the roof 

 and the boards on which.it rested. The nest was a lot of loose grass 

 and feathers, out of which, with some difficulty, owing to the 

 confined position, we extracted four beautifulh- fresh eggs. So far 

 as my recollection serves, these are larger than Uganda specimens 

 (P. griseits itgandae). An average one measures 22 mm. x 16 mm. 

 Three have the ground colour obscured by a heavy uniform 

 mottling of dark brown ; the fourth, which is 17 mm. broad, is 

 entirely different, showing a greenish-white ground with markings, 

 chiefly longitudinal, of grey, lavender, and light brown. 



The Nyasaland race of this Sparrow appears to be the typical 

 P. griseiis griscifs. 



Petronia superciliaris ([Hay] Blyth). — The Diamond Sparrow 

 defeated me, so far as the taking of its eggs was concerned. The 

 bird was rare at Zomba, but in the Masuku Woods which lie at the 

 base of Nyambadwe, near Blantyre, it was very numerous, and its 

 sharp call-note, sometimes double, sometimes triple, became a 

 very familiar element in the waxing spring chorus of October. 

 At that time of 3'ear everything seems to be nesting at once, and 

 in a new country the excitement of a "general search " is apt to 

 seize one to the exclusion of more concentrated and sustained efforts 

 directed to one species. How, I ask, are you to watch indefinitely 

 what seem to be a mated pair of Sparrows which refuse to move 

 from their respective positions in the top of a tall bare tree, when 

 at oiie moment Ercmomela flaviventris ahdominalis raises hopes of 

 a type clutch by flitting past with obvious nest-material in her 

 tiny bill, and at the next an Augur Buzzard sails screaming from 

 the top of a wooded gully ? Be the excuses good or bad, all I found 

 of Petronia was a " building nest " on October 9th, and one with 

 young a few weeks later. The former was in a small dead bough 

 about 15 feet from the ground. I saw the birds at it a week before, 

 but cut it down too soon. There was the pad of grass and feathers, 

 but they had not laid, and if this pair built again I did not find 

 the place. The second nest was in the main stem, at about the 

 same height as the first. The parents were feeding the young, 

 but I had to move nearly a hundred yards away before they would 

 go to the nest. The entrance to this second nest was an accidental 

 break in the wood : I think a barbet was responsible for the first- 

 The countrv inhabited by this species is what would be called 



