102 DENIZENS OF THE FOEEST 



South Africa. It is of confiding habits, being fond of the 

 neighbourhood of gardens and houses, where it is always 

 on the search for insects. It has a pleasant song. The 

 Cape Eobin builds early in the Cape, where its eggs may 

 be looked for from the end of August : in the Transvaal the 

 best month is October. The nest cup-shaped, of roots 

 and lined with hair is generally placed in a bush about 

 18 inches to 3 feet from the ground, on the side of a tree 

 trunk, or on a stump. The eggs, usually three in number, 

 are pale blue, thickly spotted and blotched with pale rust 

 colour : sometimes this mottling is arranged in the shape 

 of a wreath round the blunt end of the egg. 



The Noisy Robin-Chat (C. bicolor) is the Piet-myn- 

 vrouw in some of the Dutch districts, and the Mocking 

 Bird of the Colonial boy. This species is conspicuously 

 coloured, being dark slaty-grey above and bright orange- 

 rufous below ; sides of face black. 



It is a fairly common bird in the bush country of the 

 Eastern Province ; in the Grahamstown kloofs its musical 

 imitation of various bird-calls may often be heard. It 

 will imitate almost any bird-call, even the screech of the 

 Crowned Hawk Eagle. 



It feeds chiefly on insects, varied by a few berries and 

 forest fruits. 



Its nest much like that of the preceding species is 

 either situated on a rocky ledge on the side of a krantz 

 (as depicted in the photograph), or on a sloping tree 

 trunk or stump. 



The eggs, generally three in number, vary from an 

 olive-greenish-brown to a clear glossy russet-chocolate. 



The Natal Eobin-Chat (Cossypha natalensis) is blue- 

 grey above ; head orange-brown streaked with bluish ; 



