Birds around Mpumu, Uganda. 491 



I was watcliing. The nest came to au untimely end, and 

 was found to eontain three newly hatched birds. I have 

 seen several of these nests since, usually in the same kind 

 of thorny tree, but always old ones. 



38. Clytospiza monteiri. Not common, seen once or twice 

 in grass-country. 



39. Malimbus rubricoUis. 



Malimbus rubricoUis (Swains.) ; Shelley, B. Afr. iv. 

 1905, p. 346. 



Not very common. These are deliglitful birds to watch 

 in the forests, climbing about and often hanging on the 

 undersides of tlie branches. 



40. Pachyphantes supercillosus. Not very common. 

 Young birds were obtained in June. 



41. Melanopteryx nigerrima. Very common. These birds 

 start nesting in late February and March, again in May, 

 and later in the year in September. Nests are composed of 

 either grass or the leaves of palms. 



The males at times breed before they have come into full 

 plumage. The males do all the building, and the females 

 only occasionally visit the nests while they are in com^se of 

 construction. The eggs are invariably blue (Plate X. fig. 6). 

 Tlie branches on which the nests are built are usually 

 stripped of all leaves several feet back from the nest. 



42. Heterhyphantes nigricollis. A common bird. Usually 

 found in pairs. The nests, always found singly, are usually 

 slung on elephant-grass and are built in April, May, and 

 June. They have an entrance-tube about C'ght inches long. 



The eggs vary enormously both in colour and size. 

 They are found from unspotted pale blue to blue spotted with 

 brown, then changing to a pinkish ground-colour, slightly 

 spotted, up to heavily blotclied, with red-brown. The clutch 

 is either two or three. 



