by Mr. Claude Grant in South Africa. 239 



Mr. Grant states iu Lis notes that lie saw examples of this 

 species near Beira, but Sheppard (Journ. S.A. Orn. Union, 

 V. p. 24) does not include it iu his list, and it is said not to 

 occur north of the Transvaal. There are certainly no speci- 

 mens of it in the British Museum, until we get as far north 

 as British East Africa, where the longer-tailed C. detanierei 

 replaces it. 



['' Sakka-bulla " of Zulus. 



The Long-tailed Widow-bird was noted from Natal and 

 Zululand, the South-Eastern and North-Eastern Transvaal, 

 and the Beira district of Portuguese East Africa. It, as a 

 rule, frequents flat and extensive vleis, where the grass is both 

 long and rank, and is usually found in flocks comprising 

 one or two males and numbers of females. It is some- 

 what wary and cannot always be approached within gunshot. 

 The ordinary flight is floppy and erratic, and the males, 

 when shewing off", fly with the body held almost perpen- 

 dicularly, with the tail directed downward and somewhat 

 spread, the wings being alternately opened and closed by a 

 regular movement. In wet weather males in breeding- 

 plumage are unable to fly, and many are caught by natives 

 and their tail-feathers extracted; these birds present a 

 comical and shorn appearance when afterwards seen on the 

 wing. 



The soft parts are : — 



^ , summer. Irides hazel ; bill pearly-slate-coloured : legs 

 and toes very dark brown. 



J , vinter, and $ . Bill horn-coloured ; legs and toes 

 paler.] 



7(5. CoLIUSPASSER ARDENS. 



Z. Sibudeni, Oct. (2) ; Jususie Valley, Nov., Dec. (2) ; 

 Tv. Wakkerstroom, Mch. (1); Woodbush, Dec. (10); P. 

 Tambarara, Mch., May (1). 



[S ," Jojo " ; ? , " Ntaga " of Zulus. 



The Red-collared Widow-bird Avas noted from Natal and 

 Zululand, the South-Eastern and North-Eastern Transvaal, 

 and the Beira and Gorongoza districts of the Portuguese 



