152 OTHYPHAXTES REICIIENOWI 



May. Ml'. Jackson found them breeding at Nandi, July G, 

 1896, and wrote : " Nest like that of the common Yellow 

 Weaver-Bird, in a small tree like a monntain ash, aljout ten 

 feet from the ground. Tiu-ee eggs, white, with large rusty 

 brown spots." He also writes from Nandi, May 2-i, 1898: 

 " The nests vary in size, some being much more compact than 

 others. They are made entirely of grass, mostly green, but it 

 soon becomes dry. The ceiling is composed of green grass- 

 seed heads beautifully arranged, and the floor where the eggs 

 rest is also lined with seed-heads, and very often with soft 

 down of groundsel and thistles. Most of the eggs were very 

 much incubated by the end of June, many of the nests con- 

 taining young." Two days later he remarks: "Breeding. 

 Nest with three blue eggs, no spots, much incubated ; another 

 with young. Nest woven on to the stem of a low tree or bush, 

 not suspended to ends of twigs, made of coarse grass, lined 

 with seed-heads, which form a roof and porch." At " Ravine, 

 7,500 feet, February 23, 1897. Very plentiful. Seen singly, 

 and two or three together, sometimes as many as eight or ten ; 

 but this, I think, is only for a short time after the breeding- 

 season." On May 30, 1898, he found a nest with two eggs, 

 blue, with large brown spots. 



Dr. Bowdler Sharpe makes the following comment upon 

 Mr. Jackson's specimens : " Young birds are olive yellowish 

 brown, with broad streaks of dark brown or black on the 

 back ; the crown uniform olive yellow, as also the sides of the 

 face and neck, these being slightly darker; the entire under 

 surface of the body is yellow, inclining to orange on the throat 

 and chest. Such is the plumage of specimens procured in 

 August. In March and July (when/////// aihdt birds were also 

 obtained) Mr. Jackson got some assuming a black head, but 

 otherwise in the plumage of the young bird with the back 

 streaked. Is it possible that there can be a striped winter 

 dress for this Weaver-Bird ? " 



