902 MR. A. LOVKllIDaE : NOTES ON 



F HI N G I li L I D ^ . 



Emberiza flaviventris Steph. 



A nest of the Yellow-breastefl Bunting was found yesterday ; it 

 contained two e<;gs, and is situated in a maiornbo-bush five feet 

 from tlio ground. The third egg coniploting the dutcli was hi,id 

 to-day. The eggs are veiy simiUir to tliose of the English Bull- 

 finch. The nest is built of dry grass-stalks lined with very fine 

 roots or root-fibres; it is I'ather untidy and exposed. Tiie bird 

 is extraordhiarily wary, and will not approach the nest when 

 anyone is in the vicinity (Kilosa, 24. xii. 20). 



Serinus sulphuratus shelleyi Neum. 



Three eggs were found at Kabare on 11. i. 23. The nest was 

 made of fine rootlets and lined with down from plants. Bird 

 shot. 



P LOCEIDiE. 

 UR.EaiNTIIU.S NIASSENSIS Echw. . 



Two nests of the Nyassa Blue Waxbill, each with two eggs 

 (Kilosa, 5. ii. 21). Nest and two eggs (11. iv. 21). Nest and five 

 fi-esh eggs (iU). v. 21). Two nests near house contain young 

 (lO.iii. 21). Two more nests found; one the bird has not 

 iinished building and is still carrying grass ; the other bird is 

 sitting on a clutch of -eggs (25. iii. 22), The bird which was 

 building on the 25th has now four eggs. The nest, which is built 

 in a lime-tree six foot from the ground, merely rests on the 

 branches, and can be lifted off" and replaced without disarranging 

 it ; it is neatly lined with fowl feathers (5. iv. 22). 



Casually looking out of the railwaj'-carriage window at the 

 telegraph posts (which are girders set upright Avith a smooth 

 surface on the west and a concavity on the east), I was struck by 

 the number of posts carrying nests (presumably last year's), and 

 from the time I started counting till we reached the station, 

 I had counted 47, which did not include the remains of old 

 nests. It intei-ested me, as it showed the adaptability of the 

 species to modern conditions, for they had seized on this site in such 

 numbers that two out of three posts were occupied despite the 

 abundant bush close by. Another species of AVeaver (Ploceus sp.) 

 httd gone one better in selecting a snake-free site, and a number 

 of its nests were attached to the wires midway between the posts, 

 though some were against them, but not more than half-a-dozen 

 nests of this kind wore seen (Pugu, 17. vi. 22). 



Lagonosticta senegalla ? 



A nest built over that of some wasps was in a small tree and 

 contained young (Kilosa, 13. xi. 22). 



