MALACONOTUS HYPOPYRRHUS 411 
The stomach of the female contained the remnants of a 
young bird.” 
Claude Grant observed this Bush-Shrike in the eastern 
Transvaal and in various localities in Portuguese East Africa 
south of the Zambesi. He found that it frequented thick 
bush and was more often heard than seen. The note he 
described as unmistakable, being a soft sort of cluck followed 
by a long loud whistle; while emitting this, the bird throws 
back his head and opens his beak. 
North of the Zambesi this species has been collected at 
Zomba and several other localities in Nyasaland by Whyte, 
Manning, Sharpe and Johnston. In Quilimane, according to 
Dr. Stuhlmann, it is called “Kubuirro” and “ Morio.”’ 
An example in the British Museum from the Rovuma 
River collected by Thomson seems to be the South African 
form rather than that of East Africa, while two others from 
Dar-es-Salaam and Ugogo in German Hast Africa, collected 
by Kirk, are intermediate. 
This Shrike generally keeps to thick bush and remains 
well hidden, but occasionally when breeding it frequents open 
glades and takes up its station on a prominent perch, when 
it makes sudden darts at insects, taking them sometimes in 
the air, sometimes from leaves or twigs, or sometimes from 
the ground. It preys chiefly on insects, but also catches mice, 
small birds, and even snakes. Its call note is a mournful 
whistle preceded by a softer fowl-like chuck. This has got 
for it among the South African Dutch the trivial name of 
‘Spook Vogel,” or Ghost Bird. 
The collection of the British Museum contains the follow- 
ing examples :— 
Natal—Durban (Gordge, Ayres, Alexander); Zululand— 
Eshowe (Woodward); Zransvaal—Lehtaba River (Ayres); S. - 
Rhodesia—Mazoe (Darling), Chiquaqua (Sowerby); Portuguese 
