82 JS^otes on Euplectes xanthomelas, Rupp. 



This species readily deserts its nests if they are interfered 

 with before laying has commenced, and in fact 1 have always 

 found it very touchy on this point. Once I inadvertently 

 intruded where some females were busily engaged con- 

 structing a nest (as in the case of the Weaver Birds, one 

 gets inside directly there is a shell, and they thread back- 

 wards and forwards to one another quickly and cleverly), 

 and happening to return some little time later, I found the 

 cock had come on the scene, and was, with the help of two 

 hens, lustily pulling the half-finished nest to pieces. 



Three eggs are an average clutch, although only two are 

 frequently found ; they are pale bluish-green in ground- 

 colour, with markings of brown and pale slatish — more or 

 less in the form of mottlings — which exceptionally take the 

 form of a confluent zone towards the obtuse end, but they 

 vary considerably both in coloration and dimensions. As 

 one would naturally expect, the eggs laid l)y innnature birds 

 are diminutive. JGggs taken at Sipolilo measured 20 to 22 

 by 14 or 15 mm , but I have also found them only 18 nun. 

 in length. Fresh eggs are to be taken from February to 

 early in April in Mashonaland, and I think there is only one 

 brood reared annually ; in Matabeleland, however, they nest 

 earlier, h iving usually flocked l)y the middle of March or 

 the first week of April, and are then to be seen frequenting 

 the cornfields, where, in company with Red Finks, Doves, 

 and other birds, they do considerable damage to the crops. 

 The harm done to the crops is to some extent balanced by 

 the insectivorous diet upon which they feed their young, 

 and upon which they not infrequently themselves subsist. 

 In spite of this mitigating circumstance, however, they 

 are undoubtedly a great pest to growers of Kafir corn 

 ("mabele"j, and Makorikori natives have informed me that 

 they ceased to grow this grain simply on account of the 

 depredations of these birds. 



Tyi)ical nests measure 5" > 3", but are sometimes larger, 

 and appear to be made somewhat flimsily of grass, but in 

 reality they are very neatly and strong!}' woven together ; 

 they are domed, with a lound entrance-hole at the side, but 



