DICRURUS LUDWIGI 179 
“resident, but not so plentiful as D. afer.’ Mr. W. L. Sclater 
adds to this remark : ‘‘ New to the avifauna of Cape Colony.” 
The species was discovered by the late Sir Andrew Smith 
near Durban, and he writes: ‘‘ They were very shy, and the 
least ground of alarm caused them either to fly from their 
usual haunts or to retire into the dense foliage whither we 
could not follow them. The most retired situations appeared 
to form their favourite habitats, and in those they were either 
seen perched upon some dead tree, or else performing rapid 
evolutions in the air in search of food.” 
Whenever I met with D. ludwigi in Natal it was creeping 
about in the dense bush some few feet from the ground, 
frequently coming within four or five yards to peer at me, 
and on the least movement I made, with a loud, harsh cry 
it flew to the denser covert. They were certainly not uncom- 
mon near Durban, for I rarely rested in the bush without 
their finding me out; but I did not come across them in the 
less wooded country around Pinetown. Mr. T. Ayres also 
remarked that this species keeps more to the dense bush than 
D. afer, and was never seen near the grass-fires, which the 
latter much frequent. In Natal, according to Mr. A. D. 
Millar (Stark and Sclater, Faun. S. Afr. B. ii. p. 268): 
“they commence nesting in October, both taking part in 
the construction of the nest; this is placed from six to eight 
feet from the ground in a fork near the extremity of the 
branch within the woods. The birds are generally found in 
the vicinity of the nest, which is cup-shaped, and is composed 
principally of lichens and cobwebs stretched across the fork, 
lined with dry stalks of leaves and lichens. During the 
process of incubation the hen bird sits very closely. I have 
on several occasions actually shaken the branch upon which 
the nest is fixed within three feet of me before the bird would 
leave, and she will ‘then dart about you, becoming very 
