254



Field Notes from Bloemfontein.



Waxbill (Estrilda angolensis'). This species is very common

near Pretoria this year. I turned them into my aviary, but

two unfortunately died ; the other has stood some cold nights

very well and looks very cheerful.


This species has already been described in a previous

volume of the Magazine by the able pen of Mr. R. Phillipps, and

I have as yet no new notes to add to his description. I quite

agree with him that the song of the cock is sweeter and more

sustained than that of the Cordon Bleu, its very near relative.


I was also given the only specimen in the aviary of the

Black-faced Waxbill ( E. erythronota ) a little bird that I believe

has not yet been imported into England. This specimen did

well in my aviary but would never roost under cover; the

consequence was that a heavy hail and thunderstorm came on

one night and he was killed. I have had a somewhat indifferent

skin made from him and have sent him to our Editor for a

description. The bird’s song is quite sweet and it is a most

attractive species. My bird would come down close to our faces

when we visited the aviary and was exceedingly active and

sprightly.


[We have never heard of Estrilda erythronota being brought alive to

this country. Its distribution is given by the late Dr. Stark as “South

Africa to the north of the Orange and Vaal Rivers, ranging northward

through Namaqua and Damara Land to Lake Ngami; very generally dis¬

tributed in the Transvaal, Bechuanaland, and Rhodesia, extending as far

north as Masai Land and Central Africa.”


The same author describes its habits as “ very like those of the com¬

mon E. astrilda. In the Transvaal during winter these pretty litttle birds

feed on the ground in small flocks, generally near bushes, to which they fly

if disturbed. Their food consists almost entirely of grass seeds. They

have a low, gentle, twittering note, frequently repeated when they are

searching for food and also as they take flight. Towards spring the

flocks break up and they remain in pairs until the following autumn.”


The following is a description of this species in which the sexes are

alike save that the female is slightly duller than the male: General colour

grey, tinged with red and delicately pencilled with fine blackish lines,

which become broader and much more conspicuous on the wing-coverts ;

lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts crimson, faintly barred with a

darker colour; abdomen crimson; vent and under tail-coverts and tail

black; lores, ear-coverts and chin black; bill dark lead-colour, becoming

black at the tip ; feet black. Total length about 4 J inches. —Kd.].



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