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SPOROPIPES SQUAMIFRONS. 45] 
seen them fight till the combatants were surrounded by quite a little 
cloud of feathers.” ; 
Mr. Andersson gives the following note: Great Namaqua Land 
is the headquarters of this species, and the Orange River is its 
southern limit; in Damara Land proper it is of somewhat rare occur- 
rence. It congregates in large flocks; and when breeding, many 
pairs incubate their eggs under the same roof, which is composed by 
these birds of whole cartloads of grass piled on a branch of some 
camel-thorn tree in one enormous mass of an irregular umbrella- 
shape, looking like a miniature haystack, and almost solid, but with 
the under surface, which is nearly flat, honeycombed all over with 
little cavities, which serve not only as places for incubation, but also 
as a refuge against rain and wind. The eggs of this species are 
three or four in number, of a drab colour, closely speckled with 
minute spots of purple grey; the eggs, however, vary in the 
intensity of their ground-colour, and also in the degree to which 
they are spotted, as well as in their shape, which is in some cases 
very round, and in others more elongated.” 
Flanks with a blackish patch, the feathers of which are margined 
with whitish ; chin black ; plumage above drab brown; the margins 
of all the feathers, and the whole of the under parts, pale isabella. 
Length, 5’’; wing, 3’’; tail, 2’’. ‘‘ The irides are dark brown; 
the bill pale livid horn-colour; the legs and toes light brownish 
horn-colour ” (Andersson). 
Fig. Smith, Ill. Zool. 8. Afr. pl. 8. 
437. Spororrpns squamirrons (Smith). Scutellated Weaver Bird. 
Eistrelda squamifrons, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 169. 
Sir Andrew Smith states that this species is frequently met with 
to the northward of Latakoo, but rarely to the southward. We 
have received it from Kuruman and Colesberg. In the Transvaal 
Mr. Ayres writes:—These curious little birds are gregarious, but 
not common in the districts I visited ; I found them on the Limpopo, 
but never in the open country. When seen they were actively 
hopping about the low thorn bushes; and in March last, I found 
them building amongst similar bushes about the Hartz River. The 
nest is placed amongst the thorny twigs of the bush, a few feet 
from the ground, and is composed outwardly of thin grass stalks, 
the ends roughly protruding in all directions ; it is thickly and very 
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