NOTES FROM NATAL. 301 



Reid. Observed in a large flock at Ladysmith in August, in small 

 numbers at Dundee in October, and appeared to be numerous and 

 generally distributed in November from Ladysinith, where it was 

 very abundant (feeding in the roads like the common House 

 Sparrow of Europe), as far down as Ho wick, where we noted its 

 presence in November. 



Passer arcuatus (Gmel.), Cape Sparrow. — Not seen in mid- 

 winter in the Newcastle district, though probably it remains there 

 the whole year round. First observed by Butler in September, 

 when he found them in scattered pairs, one pair attaching itself 

 to each farmhouse for the breeding season. He found them very 

 shy, but obtained specimens. If one of the pair was shot another 

 generally took its place within a few days, but where its successor 

 came from is a puzzle, as these farmhouses are often miles apart, 

 and it is difficult to understand how a disconsolate widow or 

 widower could find another mate in so short a time. One pair- 

 were observed building in a low orange tree in a garden within a 

 few yards of the front door of a farmhouse. Nest similar to that 

 of the English House Sparrow, but only six feet from the ground. 

 Reid met with a pair in a thick patch of bush some distance from 

 any buildings, the male being obtained, but no nest was observed. 

 " Iris, dark brown ; bill, black ; legs and feet, dusky plum- 

 beous" (B). 



Poliospiza gularis (Smith), Streaky-headed Grosbeak. — A male, 

 developed for breeding, obtained by Reid near Colenso on the 

 21st November. 



Crithagra scotops, Sundev., Sundevall's Seed -eater. — Butler 

 found this species not uncommon in the kloofs on the Drakensberg, 

 near Newcastle, in August. It associates in small flocks, and has 

 similar habits to C. canicollis, but is more of a woodland species. 



Crithagra canicollis (Swains.), Cape Canary. — Common, both 

 in winter and summer, in the colony. In the cold weather it 

 frequented the bush-grown kloofs in the Drakensberg, near New- 

 castle, and as the breeding-season approached was more often 

 found in the open veldt among weeds and scrubby bushes. Lieut. 

 Giffard took a nest containing fresh eggs in a bush on the bank 

 of the Incandu, on the 25th October. Reid found numerous nests 

 containing fresh eggs at Mooi River on the 24th November ; these 

 nests were chiefly built in the pendant branches of willows over- 

 hanging the river. 



