STURNID^] LAMPROTORNIS 31 



unaccountably absent. Although very common at Mossel Bay 

 and Port Elizabeth, it is, according to Eickard, not found at 

 East London. Of social habits, the Brown and White Starling 

 remains in flocks all the year round. It is nearly always to be 

 found in the neighbourhood of outspans and cattle pastures, where 

 it may be constantly seen perched on the backs of sheep and 

 oxen, engaged in ridding these animals of ticks and other vermin ; 

 but probably the bulk of its food, consisting of grubs, beetles and 

 other insects, is obtained from the ground. During the greater 

 part of the year it feeds almost entirely on insects, very rarely 

 taking a few small seeds, but in the fruit season it eats grapes and 

 figs as well as other fruit, and as a result incurs the enmity of 

 the gardener and fruit grower. The ordinary call-note of this 

 Starling is a fairly loud and rather prolonged whistle. In Spring 

 it indulges in a broken and somewhat chattering song, which is 

 not unlike that of the European Starling. 



As a rule they build their nests at the ends of holes excavated 

 by themselves, to the depth of from two to ten feet, in the banks 

 of rivers or dongas, but frequently they take possession of holes 

 in walls or under the eaves of farmhouses, and sometimes even 

 build on the ground under stones or rocks. At Saldanha Bay 

 I noticed them building in crevices in the sea-cliffs, and found 

 several colonies nesting in the sides of old wells, at some 

 distance below the surface of the ground. Andersson states that 

 they frequently take forcible possession of the nests of other 

 birds, such as the Woodpecker, Bee-eater, and Swallow. The 

 nest is an untidy collection of straws and dry grass with a 

 central pad of softer material as hair, wool, or feathers. 



The eggs, from two to six in number, are of a bright blue 

 colour, usually plain, but occasionally marked with a few spots 

 of reddish-brown. Their average size is 1-15 x 0-85. In Cape 

 Colony they are laid in August or September. 



Genus IV. LAMPROTORNIS. 



Type. 

 Lamprotornis, Tenm. Man. d'Orn. i, p. 11 (1820) L. caudatus. 



Bill moderately long, more or less slender, the sides compressed, 

 the culmen slightly curved to the tip, which is emarginated ; the 

 gonys long and slightly ascending ; the nostrils basal, lateral, oval, 

 and exposed. Wings moderately long and pointed ; the first primary 



