18 FRIENDS OF THE AGRICULTURIST 



buff. The female is a much duller bird, being more or 

 less of a general brownish-buff tint. 



It is fairly common from the Eastern Cape Colony to 

 the Transvaal. At Grahamstown, Cape Colony and 

 Bloemfontein, Orange Biver Colony, it is fairly common, 

 presenting a conspicuous appearance as it sits on a rock 

 and warbles its loud, lively song. 



It is fond of rocky localities, building its nest under an 

 overhanging rock, or in a rat's hole, and laying three or 

 four eggs of a pale blue-green speckled with red-brown. 



It feeds on insects of various kinds. 



Another familiar insect-eating species, known through- 

 out the country, is the Little Bontrockie (Parti-coloured 

 Coat), as the Boers term it, the Stonechat (Pratincola 

 torquata) of the text-books. The male in summer is black, 

 chestnut and white, the black feathers taking a rufous 

 edging during the winter months. 



The Bontrockie may be found flitting about the banks 

 of a spruit (stream), or perching on the ant-heaps and 

 stones of the open veld some distance from water. 



It usually nests under a tuft of grass growing on the 

 edge of a bank, generally overhanging water ; but some- 

 times under a tuft of herbage on a slope some distance 

 from the water. The eggs are usually three in number 

 and of a pale greenish tinge blotched with pale rusty- 

 brown. 



The genus Saxicola, containing some well-known birds, 

 is a large one. 



The Mountain Chat (S. monticola) is chiefly remarkable 

 for the puzzling phases of plumage through which the 

 male passes from brownish-black with the rump regions 

 and the basal portion of the tail-feathers, except the two 



