322 ANTHUS RUFULUS. 



procured there by the Messrs. "Woodward in June. In Natal 

 Messrs. Butler, Feilden and Reid met with the species, and 

 write : " Common at the Ingagane River, near Newcastle, 

 where Reid obtained four specimens in June and July, feeding 

 on the bare patches round the stone cattle ' kraals.' He also 

 met with it near Ladysmith in November, and obtained the 

 esrsrs from two nests on the 18th and 19th of that month. 

 The nests were cup-shaped, well concealed among the growing 

 herbage, and resembled those of our common European 

 Meadow Pipit. The eggs in the first nest, three in number, 

 are white, with distinct freckles and small blotches of 

 chocolate brown, and a more obscure series of ashy grey 

 markings, most numerous towards the larger end, measuring 

 •8 in. by *6 in. In the second nest the two eggs have the 

 markings smaller, but more numerous and of a slightly duller 

 brown." According to Stark, these Pipits are usually found 

 in pairs. They have a rough chirping call-note and a rather 

 sweet and pleasant song, which is generally uttered from the 

 branch of a tree or the top of an ant-hill or stone. The 

 nest is cup-shaped, built of dry grass, lined with finer grass 

 and hairs, by the side of a grass-tuft. The eggs, usually three 

 in number, are pale stone colour, thickly mottled with 

 purplish brown and red. They measure about O80 x - 60. 



To the north of the Vaal river, according to Mr. T. Ayres : 

 " This species is very common in open glades. I have 

 obtained it in both the Rustenberg and Pretoria districts." 

 At the Tatin river in December, while in company with 

 Jameson, he found these Pipits : " Pretty generally distributed 

 but not common anywhere, almost always in pairs, frequenting 

 the trees." Along the course of the Zambesi Sir John Kirk 

 obtained a specimen at Tete which is now in the British 

 Museum, and Mr. Boyd Alexander writes : " This Pipit 

 frequents waste pieces of land. In the pairing-season the 



