90 BIRDS OP SOUTH AFRICA. 



156. Drymoica Ruficapilla, Sm., z. s. Af., Pi. 



73, I 1 , La Rousse-Tete, Le Vail., PI. 124. 



Top of head and upper parts of neck, pale chesnut-brown ; 

 interscapulars, back, and tail-coverts, pale broccoli-brown, 

 washed with yellowish- brown ; tail the same, but brighter, 

 and margined with light yellowish-brown ; quill-feathers of 

 wing, pale brownish-red, with pale, yellow-brown edges ; 

 chin, throat, centre of breast and belly, pale straw-yellow ; 

 sides of head, neck, breast, belly, and vent, pale greyish- 

 brown ; tail short, slightly graduated. Length, 4" 5"' ; 

 wing, 2Mi"'; tail, 1" U'". 



" This bird occurs in various situations in the interior of the Cape 

 Colony, and is xxsually found among brushwood or upon dwarf trees. It 

 feeds upon small insects, and in quest of those it is to be seen flitting 

 from branch to branch with great rapidity. As compared with many 

 other species, it may be considered as rather a rare bird, and it seldom 

 happens that more than one or two specimens are procured in any 



fiven locality which it is known to inhabit." — A. Smith, loc. cit. 

 >r. Smith believes this bu*d to be Le Vaillant's " Housse-Tete." I 

 cannot say I agree with him. The eggs resemble that of D. Terrestris 

 in form and colour, but the spots are coarser. 



157. Drymoica Levaillantii, Sm., z. s. Af, 



PI. 73, I 2. 



Upper parts of head, upper and lateral parts of neck, brifght 

 chesnut-brown, the two first striped with umber-brown ; 

 back and rump liver-brown, the feathers edged with pale 

 wood«brown ; lesser wing-coverts, umber-brown, broadly 

 edged and tipped with pale broccoli-brown ; under parts, 

 pale wood-brown ; throat inclined to white ; tail light umber- 

 brown, margined externally with pale chesnut-brown, and 

 broadly tipped with dull wood-brown ; behind the light 

 points each feather is marked with a circumscribed liver- 

 brown blotch, plainly seen underneath ; eyebrows and sides 

 of head, wood-brown ; tail moderately long, and graduated. 

 Length, 6" 1'" ; wing, 2" 3'" ; tail, 2" 6'". 



Common near Cape Town, among reeds, feeding on insects. Dr. 

 Smith procured it some distance north of the Orange Kiver ; and I 

 have likewise received it from Swellendam, Collsberg, and Damara- 

 land. The nest is oval, very lightly made, but supported firmly 

 between the thin closely-set twigs of the " Khenoster Bush." It is 

 composed of wool, the down of plants, and thin bents of grass, very 

 skilfully woven together ; a good-sized hole, near the top, gives access 

 and egress to the birds, and the eggs are of a blue colour, marked 

 at the obtuse ends with various-sizei brown blotches : axis, 7'" ; 

 diam., 5'". 



