128 AMADINA ERYTHROCEPHALA 
&e., and lines it with wool, feathers, or other soft, warm 
material. The young are fledged in June and July. It seeks 
its food upon the ground, usually in small flocks, and when 
disturbed takes refuge in the nearest tree or hedge; it occa- 
sionally utters a kind of chirping twitter.” 
In Cape Colony the species is apparently restricted to the 
northern portion, and I do not find it recorded from Natal or 
Zululand. Sir Andrew Smith met with it in the neighbour- 
hood of Latakoo only. Here these birds were invariably seen 
in flocks, generally on the ground, and, while feeding or flying, 
they uttered their harsh chirping note. 
Layard received the species from Kuruman and Colesberg, 
and Mr. Ortlepp wrote to him that ‘in the latter neighbour- 
hood it was rare, and at Priel it was common in large flocks ; 
he found a colony in a large ‘ wait-a-bit’ thorn; a cart-load of 
erass stuck in a fork, with two or three dozen apertures bored 
in below.” According to Stark, in nearly all its habits, in its 
flight, as well as in many of its notes, it closely resembles 
Passer arcuatus. ‘On the Orange River the eggs are laid in 
March. They are pure white, rather elongated and tapering 
towards the small end, and measure 0°83 x 0°58.” 
Major Clarke met with it in the town of Bloemfontein only, 
on two occasions. In the Transvaal, according to Mr. 'T’. Ayres, 
in 1874, it is exceedingly scarce, “but a single bird or a 
pair very occasionally appear. The pair now sent were shot 
in the town of Potchefstroom.” Mr. E. Symonds writes: “I 
saw these birds for the first time in May, 1885, and had two 
in confinement, but they unfortunately died. I have never 
seen them in our summer months. 1 think a pair built on an 
eucalyptus tree in Kroonstadt in July, 1886.” 
To the north of the Limpopo River Dr. Bradshaw collected 
six specimens which are now in the British Museum, and these 
are the only examples, known to me, from the Matabele 
