298 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The explanation may, however, he the same, viz., that the 

 young males do not assume their nuptial livery during their first, 

 and perhaps their second, year. Legs and feet grey. " Bill 

 coral red or scarlet, orange in some cases" (B). 



Urobrackia axillaris (Smith), Scarlet-shouldered Reed Finch. — 

 Extremely common at Richmond Road in December, where it 

 was breeding. The nest is a slight, but strong, construction of 

 grasses, nearly spherical, with a side entrance, built among the 

 reeds. Eggs bluish green, tinted with olive, with large blotches 

 and a few small spots, some clear dark olive, others obscured, 

 as if washed over by the ground-colour; "8 in. by '6 in. Seen at 

 Durban ; also a single specimen at Calleba's Laagte, about twenty- 

 five miles from Newcastle, but not noted further north. Butler 

 did not notice it north of the foot of the Karkloof. 



Niobe aniens (Bodd.), Red-collared Reed Finch. — Generally 

 distributed and fairly common. Some specimens of the male were 

 obtained near Newcastle in November, with the collar orange, 

 rather than scarlet, but this is doubtless only an intermediate 

 stage. 



Chera progne (Bodd.), Long-tailed Widow-bird ; Kaffir Chief. — 

 Called by the Kaffirs " Saca-bulo." One of the commonest birds 

 in the upper portions of the colony, but not observed in any great 

 numbers below Howick, or rather Riet Spruit, a few miles lower 

 down on the Pietermaritzburg road. Reid met with a small colony 

 on the downs near Richmond Road Station in December, but did 

 not observe them elsewhere in that neighbourhood. They roost in 

 hundreds, or even thousands, in the reedy " vleys," flock after flock 

 pouring in from all sides about sundown till the whole place is 

 alive with them. The males begin to assume their summer livery, 

 with its long tail-feathers, as early as August, but some of them 

 are not in full breeding-plumage as late as October. They were 

 still in flocks, and apparently not nesting, when we left Newcastle 

 in November. It would seem that the black plumage and long 

 tail are not assumed by the males during their first j^ear (and 

 perhaps their second), for specimens were obtained in the imma- 

 ture or female dress as late as the 36th October, which could not 

 possibly have subsequently gone through the various stages ; and 

 this would appear to receive confirmation from the marked pre- 

 ponderance of the brown tailless birds over the long-tailed males in 

 the various flocks. So great, however, is this preponderance that it 



