132 PLOCEID^ PYROMELANA 



rently irresistible to the impressionable female. The song consists 

 of a series of harsh and discordant notes. Although these birds 

 feed largely on grass-seeds or grain, and are accused by farmers of 

 working havoc with the crops, they devour a considerable number 

 of insects, and feed their young on small caterpillars and grubs. 

 Individuals that I have kept in confinement readily devoured nearly 

 all the insects presented to them, showing a preference for meal- 

 worms or caterpillars. This species nests in September or October. 

 The nest, a domed structure with a side entrance, is woven out of 

 fine grass, and is usually attached by its sides to three or four reed- 

 stems ; sometimes it is built in thick bushes at a height of four or 

 five feet. The eggs, almost always four in number, have a pale 

 greenish-blue ground colour nearly concealed by spots, blotches, 

 and lines of dark brown or slate-colour. They average 0*85 x 

 O60, and are hatched in about fourteen days. 



70. Pyromelana capensis minor. 



Smaller Black and Yellow Bishop Bird. 



Oryx minor, Reichenb. Singv. p. 59, pi. 24, figs. 210, 211 (1861). 

 Euplectes capensis (nee Linn.), Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 269; id. in 



Andersson's B. Damara Land, p. 170 (1872). 

 Pyromelana capensis (nee Linn.), Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. pp. 



463, 849, pt. (1884). 

 Pyromelana capensis, subsp. a. minor, Sharpe, Cat, B. M. xiii, p. 238 



(1890). 

 Pyromelana minor, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 25 (1896). 



Description. Adult male. Like the male of P. capensis, but 

 much smaller ; the thighs brown as in P. capensis. 



Length (<? Peddie) 5'40 ; wing 3-00 ; tail 2-00; tarsus 0-80; 

 culmen O50. 



Adult female. Kesembles the female of P. capensis, but is smaller. 



Distribution. From Knysna, in Cape Colony, through the 

 Eastern Cape Colony and Natal into Zululand, the Orange Free 

 State, and the Transvaal, ranging north of the Limpopo Eiver into 

 South Matabililand. 



Habits. Like those of Pyromelana capensis. 



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