456 OTHYPH ANTES BAGLAFECHT 



observed singljr or in pairs, but during the winter months 

 assembled in small parties of five to ten in the trees and 

 bushes. In September they were breeding in isolated nests, 

 not in colonies, in large trees near water. The nest he de- 

 scribes as a large flask-shaped structure of green grass, and 

 the eggs, two to four in number, are of a flesh-colour or pale 

 bluish green with large spots and dots of rufous or purplish 

 brown, and measure on an average 0"85 X 0'G2. The eggs 

 have been figured (Heugl. Oru. N. 0. Afr. pi. 47, figs. 6, 7). 

 Dr. Blanford writes : " Common throughout the highlands, 

 and seen at nearly 10,000 feet, though in general more common 

 at a rather lower elevation. Specimens shot at the end of 

 May had assumed the full breeding plumage." Antinori pro- 

 cured the species in June near Keren and in the upper part 

 of the Anseba Valley, which is the most northern range known 

 for these birds. 



In Shoa, Antinori found the species in winter plumage in 

 March and in full breeding plumage in August ; those pro- 

 cured in May and June were passing out of the winter dress, 

 and a specimen obtained in January was also in the transition 

 stage. Count Salvadori remarks that this fine series of speci- 

 mens from Shoa shows that the plumage of the sexes becomes 

 different for the breeding season, especially in the colouring 

 of their heads. The young have the upper parts ashy brown 

 with blackish shaft-stripes and a slight olive tinge, under 

 parts buffy brown. 



Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, in his description of the winter 

 plumage (Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 420), calls the " lower back and 

 upper tail-coverts olive greenish." I have examined the seven 

 specimens which were then in the British Museum, collected 

 in January, March, May and July, and all have a well-marked 

 clear, ashy brown lower back, in which character they differ 

 from 0. lovati. 



