250 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the surface of the water, and are packed closely together. In 

 some instances the entrance-hole slightly projects, but never so 

 much as to form a passage, as in the nests of Hirundo cucullata. 

 In a colony at the Ingagane Kiver, visited by Eeid, there were as 

 many as two hundred nests together in one clump, and several 

 smaller ones close by, quite four hundred nests in all, while in 

 others there are not more than fifteen or twenty. Three eggs 

 appear to be the regular number, for in one nest only did we meet 

 with four. The eggs, which vary much in size, are white, rather 

 finely spotted and blotched with reddish brown or chestnut and 

 inky purple, the markings being rather more numerous towards 

 the obtuse end. We took them in October and November. The 

 birds were first noticed about their nesting-places at the end 

 of August. They appear to resort to the same place to breed 

 every year. It would appear that they make use of the " daaga," 

 or cement-like mixture of which the ants form their hills, in the 

 construction and repairs of their nests ; one was shot by Reid, 

 sitting on the top of a broken ant-hill with its bill full of this 

 material, which from its binding properties is collected and used 

 as mortar throughout the upper districts of the colony. " Iris 

 dark brown ; bill, legs and feet dusky " (B). 



Cotyle cincta (Bodd.), Brown-collared Sand Martin. — First 

 noticed in the Newcastle district early in October, after which it 

 was fairly abundant, frequenting river-banks and " vleys." It has 

 a very noticeable flight, less jerky and more vigorous than that 

 of its congeners. Butler's measurements of a fine female speci- 

 men shot by Reid, when the two were duck-shooting at " Spoon- 

 bill " Vley, near the Buffalo, are as follows: — Length H'9 in.; 

 wing, 5"25 in.; tail, 2 T> in.; bill, from front, 0'4 in.; from gape, 

 0*6 in.; expansion of wings, 14'4 in. Legs, bill, and feet dusky ; 

 iris dark brown. They appeared to be going to breed in Novem- 

 ber, in holes in the river banks, but we did not meet with any 

 occupied nests. The length given in Layards's work, viz., 5*9 in., 

 is probably an error, as these birds do not appear to vary in size 

 to any extent in either sex. 



Cotyle fuligula{L\eht.), Brown Sand Martin. — A familiar species 

 throughout the year in the upper part of the colony, especially 

 noticeable on rocky hill-sides in winter, hawking in straggling 

 bodies for its food among the sheltered ravines. In such 

 situations it also breeds, in October and November, fixing its 



