244 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



edge of some dense bush, near Durban, on the 12th August, and 

 another, a male, in the " Town Bush," near Pietermaritzburg, on 

 the 31st August. 



Cisticola curvirostris (Sund.), Brown Fantail Warbler. — Two 

 males obtained by Reid near the camp at Richmond Road, near 

 Pietermaritzburg, on the 8th December. Fauces blackish. The 

 species appeared to be common in the long coarse grass below 

 the camping ground. 



Cisticola tinniens (Licht.), Le Vaillant's Fantail Warbler. — 

 Common in the neighbourhood of Newcastle, along the rivers and 

 streams ; a restless and noisy bird. Reid found a nest on the 

 25th October, containing two young birds just hatched, and an 

 addled egg, pinkish white, with spots of a darker pink collected 

 at the obtuse end ; and a nest full of clamorous young birds on 

 the following day. Both these were placed in the centre of a tuft 

 of coarse grass growing on the bank of the River Incandu, and 

 were discovered by watching the old birds ; they were of the 

 usual Cisticoline construction, purse-shaped, and supported by 

 the grass-stems. 



Cisticola chiniana (Smith), Larger Grey-backed Fantail. — Very 

 common near Newcastle, where we obtained numerous specimens 

 in May, June, and July. It frequents long grass in swampy 

 ground, and by the side of streams. 



Cisticola aberrans (Smith), Smith's Fantail Warbler. — Two 

 specimens were procured by Reid — a male near Camperdown 

 Station, between Pietermaritzburg and Pinetown, on the 15th 

 December, and another at Richmond Road Camp. 



Cisticola cisticola (Terum.), Common Fantail Warbler. — 

 Numerous on the "veldt," and a most conspicuous bird in spite 

 of its diminutive proportions. It frequents the long grass, and 

 betrays the greatest alarm on the approach of an intruder — flying 

 round him with a jerky, spasmodic flight, and making a curious 

 snapping noise, apparently with its wings. This species is 

 pronounced by Messrs. Finsch and Hartlaub, and Mr. R. B. 

 Sharpe, to be specifically inseparable from the common Fantail 

 Warbler of Europe. 



Sphena'acus natalensis (Shelley), Natal Pointed-tailed Grass- 

 Warbler. — This species has been separated, as a new one, from 

 S. africanns of Cape Colony, from which it differs in the almost 

 uniform rufous-buff colouring of the under surface of the body, 



