NOTES FROM NATAL. 249 



meeting with it (nesting) at Colenso in November, and Keid at 

 Camperdown in December. Measurements as follows : — Male ; 

 length, 8 in. , wing, 3| in. ; tail, 3f in. ; bill from front, £ in. ; 

 from gape, f- in. ; expansion of wings, 9f in. The total length 

 and length of the tail are exclusive of the long tail-feathers, which 

 were shot away. Bill and eyelids bright blue ; legs and feet lavender- 

 blue ; iris dark brown; extreme tip of upper mandible blackish. 

 Butler's notes of the nesting of this species are as follows : — 

 " Found two nests near Colenso on the 13th November, one 

 containing three young ones ready to fly, the other a single young 

 bird that flew out of the nest as I approached it. Both nests 

 were exactly alike, neat little cups composed of dry grass with 

 lichen attached exteriorly and placed upon a thin stem or fork of 

 a low bough, being bound to it by cobwebs, about five feet from 

 the ground, by the side of a stream running through a wood. 

 The old birds evinced great excitement and anxiety whilst the 

 nests were being examined" (B). 



Cryptolopha ruficapilla (Sund.), Yellow-browed Flycatcher. — 

 Butler found this species not uncommon in the kloofs on the 

 Drakensberg, near Newcastle, and obtained several good specimens 

 in August. It frequents the thick bush, and has much the same 

 habits as Zosterops capensis, with which species it often associates, 

 flitting from tree to tree in the same restless manner, searching 

 tbe branches in quest of insects. On one occasion he observed a 

 party of these birds, in company with a few "White-eyes," 

 in the greatest possible state of excitement, mobbing a small 

 Scops Owl which was seated motionless on a branch, fast asleep, 

 though with one eye, as usual, half open, and looking for all the 

 world like the stump of an old broken branch. In all probability 

 it is migratory, not having been noticed before the middle of 

 August. Soft parts as follows : — Iris dark brown ; legs and feet 

 olive-grey ; lower mandible fleshy yellow (B). 



Petrochelidon spiloclera (Sund.), Prince Alfred's Swallow. — 

 This is the Hirundo lunifrons (Sav.), of Layard's first edition, and 

 a very numerous species in the Newcastle district. We found 

 many colonies breeding near Newcastle in October. The nests 

 are large globular mud structures, very similar to those of 

 Chelidon urbica, with a hole near the top, and warmly lined with 

 feathers matted together. As a rule they are built under cliffs 

 and rocks overhanging small streams, from one to nine feet above 



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