PLOCEIDJE PYROMELANA 131 



pale brown streaked with dusky ; lesser and middle wing-coverts 

 dark brown edged with olive-yellow ; rest of wing and tail-feathers 

 dark brown edged with yellowish-brown ; lores and slight eyebrow 

 olive-yellow ; plumes round the eye whitish ; ear-coverts and sides 

 of face dark brown ; cheeks and under surface of body whitish, the 

 sides of body and flanks tinged with brown and streaked with dark 

 brown ; under wing-coverts yellowish ; under surface of quills dusky 

 with buff inner margins. 



Iris dark brown ; bill whitish ; feet pale brown. 



Length 6'00; wing 3-30; tail 2-25; tarsus 0-95; culmen 0-65. 



Adult male in winter. Eesembles the adult female in plumage, 

 but is distinguished by his larger size. The bill at this season is 

 pale brown. 



The change of plumage from the winter to the summer dress in 

 the male is very gradual, lasting, near Cape Town, from about the 

 middle of July to the middle of September. Only the feathers 

 of the lower back, rump and flanks are entirely changed by a moult, 

 the remaining plumage and bill becoming darker, owing to a gradual 

 absorption of colouring matter, the change first appearing at the 

 point of the lower mandible. In autumn the colour is gradually 

 reabsorbed if the feathers are not previously moulted. According 

 to Dr. Butler (Ibis, 1897, p. 359), other species of the genus Pyro- 

 melana change from their winter to spring dress in much the 

 same manner. 



Distribution. Western Cape Colony, from Cape Town to the 

 George District on the east, northward to Clan William. Common 

 on the Cape Peninsula. 



Habits. This large Bishop Bird is nearly everywhere common 

 in the Western Colony, and although it seems to prefer the vicinity 

 of marshy vleis or streams it may be frequently found in very dry 

 and arid tracts of country. The male in spring and summer is 

 fond of uttering his harsh notes from the top of a tall bush or reed, 

 and is then very conspicuous in his contrasting glossy black and 

 yellow plumage. The female at this season is not often seen, 

 keeping much to thick reed-beds or bushes, even when not sitting 

 on her eggs. In autumn the old birds of both sexes, together with 

 their young, form considerable flocks, which do not separate until 

 the following spring. The long, loose, yellow feathers on the lower 

 back and rump of the breeding male are erectile, and when the 

 bird is approaching a hen, or is excited, they stand out at right 

 angles to the body, giving him an extraordinary appearance, appa- 



