14 Mr. H. Leighton Hare on 



{Amydrus caffer), the Wattled (Dilophus caruncidatus)^ and 

 the Pied or Common Spreeuw [Spreo hicolor), only the last- 

 mentioned is really common. The Pale-winged Starlings 

 generally go in pairs. Wattled Starlings are seldom seen 

 by themselves, being generally in the company o£ Pied 

 Starlings. The Common Spreeuw, if one can overlook his 

 depredations in the orchard, is essentially a useful bird. 

 They do much towards keeping down caterpillars and grubs 

 in lucerne-fields. During severe droughts, when food had 

 become scarce, I have seen them wading about in shallow 

 pools feeding on tadpoles, on which they seemed to thrive. 



The Chat family is fairly w^ell represented. The Capped 

 Wheatear [Saxicola pileata), Mountain-Chat [S. monticola), 

 Familiar Chat (S. familiaris), Layard's (/hat {S. lai/ardi). 

 Sickle-winged Chat [Emarginata siniiata), and Ant-eating 

 Chat (^Myrmecocichla form'icivora) are all common. The S.A. 

 Stone-Chat {Pratincola torquatci) is somewhat rare. The 

 different phases of plumage adopted by the Mountain-Chat 

 are very striking. Although it is genei'ally thought that 

 the plumage of the female — brownish black with white on 

 the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail (see Stark and Sclater, 

 vol. ii. p. 1^^4:), remains constant throughout life, this is not 

 an invariable rule. Specimens of the female in grey plumage 

 were collected and submitted to the S.A. Museum, and the 

 fact verified. In these cases, to remove all doubt, the bodies 

 preserved in spirits were also sent for examination. 



The Larks to be found here are the Thick-billed {Calendula 

 crassirostris) , the Grey-collared (^Alwmon semitorgnata), the 

 Red-capped {I'ephrocorys cinerea) , Rufous Long-billed {Cer- 

 thilauda rafida), the Grey-backed [Pyrrludauda verticalis), 

 and the Dark-naped {P. aiistralis). The Thick-billed and 

 Grey-collared varieties are somewhat troublesome in grain- 

 lands, as they are given to scratching up the germinating 

 seeds. Grey-backed Larks may ofcen be seen feeding in 

 the streets along with the Red-capped. Enormous flocks 

 of Dark-naped Larks congregate together, but they keep 

 rather further afield. A new subspecies of Lark was col- 

 lected by me in this district and given the name of Calan- 



