E<jg-Collectin<j in the Busliccld. 39 



some tree near the nest. Mules alone appear to hover and 

 sing, and should some voiceless hen be startled from the 

 ground her mate invariably drives her back to hiding 

 amongst the grass. They appear to prefer parts where the 

 trees are scattered and the grass short and patchy. Nests 

 are placed in patches that are thin and apparently ill adapted 

 to conceal them ; but despite this, they are difficult to find, 

 as a thin hood o£ grass-stems of the same colour as the 

 growing ones is placed over the nest, effectually concealing 

 the eggs. Three eggs form the normal clutch, which is 

 laid during the early part of December ; they are rather 

 heavily clouded with earthy brown and a little slate-colour, 

 and measure 18"7-19'5 X 13"8-15 mm. 



Layard's Balbul {Pyoionotus Layardi). — This precocious 

 fruit thief was frequently observed, though it is not so 

 common in the dry bushveld as on the Magaliesberg. The 

 nests are thin, bowl-shaped structures, placed in all sorts of 

 situations in the branches of trees, and composed of fine 

 stems neatly bound together with fibres. The eggs vary 

 very little in colour, though they do in size, giving in dif- 

 ferent clutches 19"7-238x 15*4-1G'6 mm.; two to four form 

 a clutch ; they are white thickly covered with light red 

 spots and a little brown and slate which is hardly noticeable 

 in the general effect, the red being the prevailing colour. 

 The midsummer months may be taken as the nesting-season 

 in the Transvaal. 



Black Sunbird {Chalcomitra amethystind). — A few indi- 

 viduals were observed at the red flowers of an epiphytic plant. 

 In a clutch of three eggs taken at Karkloof, Natal, in March, 

 two are rather pointed at the thin end, white in colour, with 

 longitudinal markings of blue-grey and grey- brown, and 

 measure 19-2-19"5x 12-5-13 mm.; the third egg is quite 

 different, being altogether darker in the ground-colour, more 

 marked, though less sharply, with dull brown of various 

 shades, and in addition has a few black spots irregularly 

 placed about the thicker end ; it is also smaller and 

 blunter at the thin end, and measures iy"5-13'2 mm. 



