ORTYGOSPIZA POLYZONA 157 
the ground amongst the grass and not easily seen, from its 
being composed of dead blades of grass; it was lined with 
a few coarse feathers, and in shape was much like the nests 
of some of the Sunbirds, with a projecting eave over the 
entrance, but all very rough. The eggs were five in number 
and pure white; length 0°54; breadth 0°47.’ Eggs in the 
South African Museum at Cape Town are rounded ovates, 
without gloss, and pure white. They average 0°62 x 0:48.” 
According to Mr. T. Ayres, ‘‘this species is common 
about Rustenburg, and seems pretty well distributed through 
the Transvaal.” He also saw it in Matabeleland. From 
Salisbury, in Mashonaland, Mr. Guy Marshall writes: “I 
have noticed this little bird only during the winter months, 
when it may be seen in considerable flocks in open spaces 
about the town. It is very tame, allowing approach within 
a few feet; but even then there is difficulty in detecting it 
on the ground, owing to its protective upper side colouring 
and diminutive size.” The species is well represented in 
the British Museum from Hland’s Post, Pinetown, Newcastle 
and the Transvaal, and northward from British East Africa 
to Abyssinia. From the large extent of country between 
Mashonaland and British Hast Africa only a single specimen 
has been recorded; this is a male procured by Fischer at 
Wembere, to the south of Victoria Nyanza, in 6° 30'S. lat. 
This fact, like Mr. Fleck’s record of the species from 
Damaraland, shows how much we have yet to learn from the 
field naturalist in Africa. 
In British East Africa Mr. Oscar Neumann has recorded it 
from the Ulu Mountains, and in Lord Delamere’s fine collection, 
which has not yet been described, there are two females, one 
procured at Neari, on the Mossor River, and the other at 
the Waso Nyro River, shot in February, 1900. Mr. Jackson 
took a nest of this species containing six eggs, at Mau, on 
