80 BIED AECHITECTS 



The Crombec (Sylviella rufescens), known to the Boers 

 as the Stomp-stertje (Stump-tail), is ash-grey above and 

 tawny-buff below. Its range is extensive, the bird being 

 found throughout the Cape, the Transvaal, Zululand, 

 Mashonaland and German South-west Africa. It fre- 

 quents the mimosa scrub, building a pretty pendent nest 

 of dry stalks and leaves, woven together with cobwebs, 

 and lays two or three white eggs with a ring of brown 

 and purple spots round the blunt end. 



The Black-chested Wren- Warbler (Prinea flavicans) is 

 brown above, eyebrow, throat and cheeks white, under 

 surface light yellow, with a dark brown band across the 

 breast. 



It builds a light, artistic, oval-shaped nest of fine grass, 

 beautifully woven, with a domed side entrance near the 

 top, lining it with white vegetable down. The eggs 

 usually three in number are pale bluish-green in colour, 

 marked with reddish-brown, but they vary considerably 

 in colour, like those of many of the Warblers. 



The CisticolcB (Grass Warblers) are a large group not 

 easily distinguished from one another by the tyro ; they 

 build circular or oblong-shaped nests woven of grass, 

 warmly lined with down or wool, much after the style 

 of the W T idow-Birds. 



For more information on this extremely difficult group 

 we must refer the reader to the text-books. 



HAMMERHEAD. 



We now come to the last species we will deal with 

 in this chapter, viz., the Hammerhead (Scopus umbretta), 

 called Hammerkop or Paddavanger (Frog-catcher) by the 

 Boers. 



