HOUW HOEK AND STANFORD I 1 3 



appearing in the gardens in Cape Town, They are 

 handsome birds, with their plumage of black, yellow, 

 and olive-green, and their loud cry is sure to attract 

 the attention of the passer-by. This is uttered in the 

 form of a duet, the male bird giving the two syllables 

 bak-bak, when the female follows suit, with the cry 

 kiri. This duet is uttered very loudly and energetically, 

 and often continues for as long as four or five minutes 

 at a stretch, if both birds keep good time ; sometimes 

 however, the female bird is not ready to join in with 

 her part of the performance, and comes in late, or tries 

 to make up for lost time by crying kiri several times in 

 quick succession ; this generally ends in disaster, and 

 the male bird sulks, or hops down from his perching- 

 place and commences feeding on the ground. 



We did not find these birds in the woods, or on the 

 open veldt, but always on ground where there was a 

 sprinkling of cover sufficient for them to nest in ; they 

 frequented much the same country as the Fiscal Shrikes, 

 but whereas the locality of the latter birds was to be 

 found by the eye, that of the Bakbakiri Bush-shrikes 

 was more often to be found by the ear, during the 

 breeding season, at any rate. 



