266 Mr. J. H. Gurney on additional Species of Birds 



257. Apalis thoracica (Shaw). Bar-throated Warbler. 

 Male and Female. The irides are of a very pale greenish yel- 

 low; the bill is black, ashy towards the tip ; the tarsi and feet pale. 



These birds are generally seen in the thick bush, creeping 

 about the stems and boughs of trees and shrubs in search of 

 small insects on which they live; they are generally solitary, or 

 in pairs, and very silent ; their flight is weak. They build a 

 very delicate nest ; it is hung to a few fine twigs, in rather a 

 horizontal position ; the outer layer is composed of mosses, lich- 

 ens, cobwebs, and very fine pieces of grass, lined with thistle- 

 down ; the nest is deep and open at the top, and is somewhat 

 the shape of those built by some of the Sun-birds; the eggs 

 are elliptical in form, bluish-white, spotted pretty equally with 

 brownish red, some of the spots being fainter than others. 



258. Calamoherpe arundinacea (Gmel.) ? Lesser Reed- 

 Warbler. 



Male. Iris light brown; bill, upper mandible dusky, the 

 under yellowish pale ; tarsi and feet yellowish ash-colour. 



These birds frequent the sedgy pools and streams inland; 

 they appear to be tolerably numerous ; their habits are active, 

 their notes loud and not unmusical. The specimen sent I shot 

 in December ; I did not notice any last winter (July) when 

 I was shooting in the same locality, but still I think they must 

 have been somewhere in the neighbourhood. 



[Dr. Hartlaub considers the specimen sent to be specifically 

 identical with C. arundinacea, though he remarks that the wings 

 are " rather shorter, and the tail rather more rounded." When 

 additional specimens have been obtained from Natal, the exami- 

 nation of such specimens will show whether the shorter prima- 

 ries which characterize the present specimen form a constant 

 character ; should such prove the case, I should certainly con- 

 sider the Natal bird to be a distinct species. — J. H. G.] 



259. Camaroptera olivacea, Sundev. Olivaceous Cama- 

 roptera. 



Two of the specimens sent are uncertain as to sex, the third 

 is a female. The irides are light reddish brown ; the bill is 

 black; the tarsi and feet pale, darker on the outer sides. 



