100 PYROMELANA SUNDEVALLI 
and there is no better time to estimate their numbers than 
towards evening, when they journey to the reed-beds. An 
accustomed track is always taken; flock after flock will go 
‘swishing’ past in almost bewildering succession to some 
reed-bed ahead, into which they pitch like so many showers 
of bullets. Soon among the green cover of the fish-cane there 
will be hosts of Weavers making great chatterings, and when 
there is a pool close by they travel to the confines of the fish- 
cane and commence to drop down to the water to take their 
last drink for the night, a continuous string of birds circling 
down and up without interruption, like an endless chain on 
a wheel. Itis a pretty sight. There is neither bickering nor 
quarrel, each bird has a chance to dip its beak into the water, 
and only when the last bird leaves the pool does the chattering 
or singing within the reed-beds cease. Then the confused 
rustling of innumerable wings takes place, telling the observer 
that these large flocks are retiring into the depths of the green 
cover for the night. From the winter plumage to the brilliant 
summer-dress the change is slow, and during this period all 
stages of plumage may be observed, which impart to a flock 
a very mottled and curious appearance. By the end of 
January the males have completely assumed their remarkable 
breeding-dress, but their numbers are small compared with 
the females and the birds of the previous season, who still 
keep the brown plumage, and the flock that awhile back was 
nothing more than a study in brown becomes glorious with 
the gorgeous liveries of the male birds. It is a sight worth 
seeing to behold a flock go past you, twisting and turning in 
the bright sunlight across the wide mealie-fields, bristling 
with the fresh green blades, then on to the dark green cover 
of a reed-bed, whose lowest depths they penetrate and fill 
with a soft, confused chattering, for all the world like a fugue 
in monotone, while now and again the males climb to the top 
