Eggs from Mount Chir'uida, Southern lUiodexla. D 



plen. The nest was placed 5i feet from the ground, on 

 a tangle of climbing stems. Some of these hung over it 

 and concealed it excellently. There were two eggs — one 

 very hard-set, the other addled, — 24'5 })y 17 and 24 by 

 17 mm. The nest was built of material taken from the 

 climbers which supported it, and was quite loosely put 

 together and without lining. It measured 3 inches in 

 diameter by 1"6 inches in de})th. 



32. o200 ft. 29.11.07.— In a grassy, lightly wooded 

 gleu a nest was found eighteen feet from the ground on 

 the top of a cut-off stump of " Chisurudza," and supported 

 by the suckers which were springing up all round. It 

 is a flimsy, shallow structure, of small roots surrounded 

 by a few herbaceous stems and with a fair admixture of 

 the dry stems of some tine herbaceous climber ; diameter 

 about 1 inches. Three eggs, slightly incubated, were taken, 

 two of which measured 24 by lb*5 and one 23"5 by 18 mm. 

 105. 3500 ft. 30.1.08. — A nest was located in a steep 

 densely wooded glen. It was placed three feet from the 

 grovmd on a big branch overlooking the kloof and supported 

 by a twig on either side, and contained two fresh eggs, 24 by 

 18 mm. each. This was probably a second brood. The birds 

 appear to have behaved at the nest much as described in 'The 

 Ibis^ for 1908, p. 54. 



All five clutches in Odendaal's collection are referable to 

 the type figured as " 7 " in plate viii. of ' The Ibis' for 1908, 

 p. 443 ; but as that figure does not give a cleai- idea of the 

 coloration of the spots, I will describe the egg in detail : — 



In 105 and 32 the ground-colour is white tinged with 

 greenish blue, and the markings, which are mostly small, 

 violet-grey and pale chestnut in colour, are speckled fairly 

 thickly over the egg in general, but most thickly over the 

 larger end. In No. 15 the markings are paler ; in No. 19 

 })aler still and more confined to the cap, and the giound is a 

 more (;ronounced blue. In No. 9 the brown markin'>s are 

 yello\vish-l)roAvn rather than che--tnut. 



