SPREO BICOLOK 87 



holes ill walls or under the eaves of farm-houses, aud some- 

 times even build on the ground under stones or rocks. At 

 Baldanha Bay I noticed them building in crevices in the 

 sea-cliffs, and found several colonies nesting in tlie sides of old 

 wells, at some distance below the surface of the ground. 

 Audersson states that they frequently take forcible possession 

 of the nests of other birds, such as the Woodpecker, Bee-eater 

 and Swallow. The nest is an untidy collection of straws and 

 dry grass, with a central pad of softer material, as hair, wool, 

 or feathers. The eggs, from two to six in number, are of a 

 bright blue colour, usually plain, but occasionally marked 

 with a few spots of reddish brown. Their average size is 

 1"15 X 0'85. In Cape Colony they are laid in x\ugust or 

 September." 



I frequently saw flocks of these birds quite close to Cape 

 Town, and also at Mossel Bay. In habits they much 

 resemble our Englisli Starling, but their wider wings give 

 them a less compact appearance when Hying. All the speci- 

 mens I procured in January were in the moult. 



Captain Eeid " took two nests near Ladysmith from the 

 inner walls of a deserted farm-house, one contained five pure 

 blue eggs, the other six red-spotted ones." Mr. T. x\yres 

 writes : " These birds excavate holes for their nests in the 

 perpendicular banks of the Vaal Kiver, 2 or 3 feet from the 

 surface of the ground, and from '2 to 4 feet deep, horizontally. 

 The same holes appear to be used for successive seasons, 

 being merely pierced further each year." He also writes : 

 " I found them first upon the Bushman Kiver in Upper Natal, 

 and in increasing numbers (where the locality was favourable) 

 all along the road to Potchefstroom, in the Transvaal, where 

 they were very plentiful." 



