404 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
base of Jower mandible; feet brown (in skin). Total length, 5°8 
inches ; culmen, 0°45; wing, 3°25; tail, 2-4; tarsus, 0°85. 
Fig. Sharpe, Brit. Mus. Cat. B. IIT, pl. 14. 
387. Brapyornis siuens, Shaw. Pied Wood-Shrike. 
This species appears to be spread over the whole Cape Colony ; 
Victorin procured it at the Knysna, where we ourselves have found 
it common, as well as at Swellendam and Beaufort. Mr. Rickard 
procured it at Port Elizabeth, and we have received specimens from 
different parts of the eastern frontier. Mr. Ortlepp informs us that 
it is found about the Orange River, and we have likewise seen it 
from Natal. Mr, Ayres at first considered it scarce near Potchef- 
stroom, but he informs us that it has lately become more common. 
He says :—“ It frequents the hedgerows, and when perched on the 
outer twig of some hedge it much resembles in appearance Lanius 
collaris. They are inveterate bee-eaters, and I see a pair which 
frequent my garden catching the bees in the morning and evening 
as they fly from and to their homes.” 
Mr. Ortlepp says that its song is sweet and sustained, and that it 
has considerable powers of imitation. Le Vaillant states that it 
nests in trees, forming a beautiful structure of flexible twigs, lined 
with cotton, gathered from cotton-producing plants. Lays three or 
four eggs, of a pale green colour, daubed (barbouillés) with light red. 
This we can confirm. The axis is 10”’, diameter 72”. When 
at Nel’s, Poort, in December, we procured several young birds in 
their first phase of plumage, when they were spotted like a young 
Chat. 
Writing from the Transvaal, Mr. Ayres observes :—“ This species 
is tolerably plentiful about Rustenberg, and I may also mention that 
I took its nest and eggs, on the 26th of October, near Potchef- 
stroom. The nest was in my garden, placed about eight feet from 
the ground, on the top of a rough post, sheltered by grape-vines. 
It was cup-shaped and rough in structure, composed of dry grass, 
rags, and feathers, giving it a generally white appearance, with bits 
of wool, fluffy grass-seeds, and finer feathers inside. The eggs, 
three in number, were of a pale tawny or dingy white, faintly but 
uniformly marked with very pale brown. They varied slightly in 
colour and size, measuring respectively 14 of an inch by 43, 
