208 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



November (R). Butler noticed it on one occasion near New- 

 castle, and on two or three other occasions about Colenso in 

 November. 



Centropus natalensis, Shelley, Lark-heeled Cuckoo. — A female 

 in wretched plumage, but with eggs considerably enlarged, obtained 

 in the bush between Durban and the Umgeni River on December 

 24th. Another, probably the male, seen but not procured (R). 



Indicator sparmanni, Stephens, White-eared Honey-guide. — 

 Butler shot a female specimen, developed for breeding, in a kloof 

 on the Drakensberg, near Newcastle, on October 9th. It was on 

 the ground at the time, pecking at a large piece of the comb of a 

 wasp's nest. He observed another one at the same place a few 

 days later, and noticed the species also at Blaauw Krantz. Legs 

 and feet plumbeous ; iris brown ; bill dusky plumbeous. 



Pogonorhynchus torquatus ^Dum.), Black-collared Barbet. — 

 Lieut. Harkness, of "The Welsh" Regt., obtained a specimen 

 near Ladysmith in the spring [R). 



Geocolaptes olivaceus (Lath.), Ground Woodpecker. — Ex- 

 ceedingly common, especially in the upper portions of the colony. 

 Specimens obtained in all stages, and a nest taken by Butler on 

 August 2nd, which he describes in the following note :— " Aug. 2nd 

 found a nest containing four fresh eggs. The nest-hole was bored 

 in soft earth on the face of a precipitous rocky bank or cliff over- 

 looking a running stream. The eggs were laid in a depression of 

 the ground about one foot and a half from the entrance. The 

 passage inclined slightly upwards. No attempt at a nest. Bill 

 dusky slate ; legs and feet greenish plumbeous ; iris whitish pink." 

 Fond of perching in twos and threes, sometimes in family parties 

 of five or six, on a big rock or ant-hill, the head and neck only 

 visible to the intruder. 



Dendropicus menstruus (Scop.), Red-vented Woodpecker. — 

 " Lieut. Giffard and I obtained one, a male, on the 19th June, in 

 a kloof underneath the Drakensberg, not far from the Leo Kop 

 Mountain" (R)- Butler obtained two or three specimens also in 

 a kloof on the Drakensberg, near Newcastle, in August. 



Dendropicus fulviscapus (111.), Cardinal Woodpecker.— Butler 

 mentions a pair that were shot by an officer in his regiment, on 

 the march down country in November, at Blaauw Krantz. 



Yunx pectoralis, Vigors, Red-breasted Wryneck. — "A pair 

 shot, and others seen, by Lieut. Harkness, near Ladysmith, in 



