34 COLIUSPASSER PROGNE 
coast within eight or ten miles. Messrs. Butler, Feilden and 
Reid write: ‘‘Called by the Kaffirs ‘ Saca-bulo,’ one of the 
commonest birds in the upper portion of the colony, but not 
observed in any great numbers below Howick, or rather Reit 
Spruit, a few miles lower down on the Pietermaritzburg road. 
“They roost in hundreds, or even thousands, in the reedy 
vleys, flock after flock pouring in from all sides about sunset 
till the whole place is alive with them. The males begin to 
assume their summer livery, with its long tail-feathers, as early 
as August, but some of them are not in full breeding plumage 
as late as October. They were still in flocks, and apparently 
not nesting, when we left Newcastle in November. It would 
seem that the black plumage and long tail are not assumed by 
the males during their first year (and perhaps their second), for 
specimens were obtained in the immature or female dress as 
late as October 26, which could not possibly have subsequently 
gone through the various stages; and this would receive 
confirmation from the marked preponderance of the brown 
tailless birds over the long-tailed males in the various flocks. 
So great, however, is the preponderance that it can really only 
be satisfactorily accounted for by assuming the species to be 
polygamous.” 
Regarding the habits of this species, Stark writes: “ This 
beautiful Widow Bird, remarkable for the extraordinary size of 
the tail of the male during the breeding season, is in many 
parts of Upper Natal, Zululand and the Southern Transvaal a 
very common summer resident on the borders of the vleis and 
swamps as well as on the open veldt, wherever there is a 
sufficient growth of grass to afford it concealment and a shelter 
for its nest. On bright sunny days the long-tailed males are 
fond of sitting on the taller heads of grass, or on some 
prominent bush or weed. They frequently fly from bush to 
bush with gracefully arched tail, apparently not much incom- 
