120 SOME BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA 



like portion of some plant, of a red-brown colour. I 

 never saw the male bird of the Cape Flycatcher on the 

 nest, but he would come and feed the female at intervals 

 while she was sitting. She did not remain on the nest 

 at these times, but would hop up from branch to branch 

 and take such food as he had brought her before he had 

 time to reach the nest ; on such occasions she would 

 stay away from the nest for as long as ten minutes at 

 a time, nor would she return until driven back by the 

 male bird, when she finally settled down upon the nest, 

 and the male bird would go away. 



Another Flycatcher that may be met with in these 

 woods is the Grey-mantled Flycatcher ; we saw, how- 

 ever, but little of this bird, and only found its nest once. 

 This was similar to the nest of the species dealt with 

 above, with the exception of the outside, which was in 

 this instance covered with small pieces of touchwood ; 

 perhaps this covering was more in accord with the sur- 

 roundings of the nest than if it had been composed of 

 lichens. This nest, an illustration of which is shown 

 on plate 30, was placed in a young shoot of an oak 

 tree. The male and female of this species appeared to 

 share the duties at the nest about equally, % and were 

 constantly taking each other's place ; they were very 

 restless birds, and were often to be seen flitting about 

 among the bushes and trees, at the same time spreading 

 out their tails, which were broad and somewhat arched. 

 Their note was a harsh twittering noise, which was 

 uttered by both the birds, and was considerably louder 

 than that of the Cape Flycatcher. 



The South African Paradise Flycatcher is another 

 bird that attracts attention in these woods. This also 



