170 FRINGILLJDJS SEKINUS 



it occurs near Cape Town, and is abundant in the neighbourhood of 

 Swellendam, Caledon, George, Beaufort West, and elsewhere. It 

 is fairly common in many parts of the Orange Free State and Natal. 



Habits. This large and conspicuously-coloured Seed-eater is 

 rather common in many parts of Cape Colony, both on open 

 pasture land and in bushy localities. In winter these birds form 

 considerable flocks, often joining with other finches to search for 

 seeds on the ground. The principal part of their food, however, 

 consists of small berries and their seeds ; the latter they crack with 

 their powerful bills for the sake of the kernels. In spring the 

 males siog delightfully, their notes being both powerful and mellow ; 

 for this reason they are frequently kept as cage-birds and even 

 exported to Europe. The nest, usually built in September in Cape 

 Colony, is a small and neat cup-shaped structure, and is nearly 

 always placed in a low bush, rarely more than four feet above the 

 ground. It is constructed outwardly of dry grass-stems and the 

 smaller stalks of plants, and is lined with finer grass and cottony 

 down. The eggs, generally four in number, are either white or 

 white faintly tinged with blue ; about one-half of them are 

 unspotted, the remaining half have a few deep black spots, or one 

 or two zig-zag markings towards the larger end. They are usually 

 somewhat elongated and tapering towards the smaller extremity. 

 They average 0-85 x 0-60. 



Incubation lasts for fourteen days, and the young remain in 

 the nest for from three to four weeks. During this period they 

 are fed on insects and on the contents of the crops of the parent 

 birds. (* 



90. Serinus flayiventris. Yellow-bellied Seed-eater. 

 \W A- 



Fringilla butyracea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 321 (1766), nee Loxia 



butyracea, Linn. 

 Crithagra flaviventris, Swains. Zool. Jour, iii, p. 348 (1828) ; Layard, 



B. S. Afr. p. 220 (1867) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard 's B. 8. Afr. p. 485 



(1884). 

 Crithagra strigilata, Swains. An. in Menag. p. 317 (1837) ; Layard, 



B. S. Afr. p. 219 (1867) = the female. 

 Crithagra butyracea, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 124 (1849) ; 



Layard B. S. Afr. p. 219 (1867) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard' s B. S. Afr. 



pp. 487, 850 (1884). 

 Serinus flaviventris, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xii, p. 353 (1887) ; Butler, 



Foreign Finches, p. 31 pi. $ and ? (1894) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i. 



p. 21 (1896). 

 St. Helena Seed-eater. " Kleine Seisje " of the Dutch. 



A-1u 



