9 6



Capt. Boyd Horsbrugh,



and the Cordon Bleu,* aud nearly every time I went through the

thick bush country between Zeerust aud Rustenberg I noticed

some of the rare Violet-eared Waxbills. The two former generally

visit farm yards and gardens, but the Violet-eared I usuall}'

noticed in the bush itself. I have written to my brother, who is

in Pretoria, and hope he will some da}' - be able to send some

Violet-ears, etc., home to me.


Of the many Weavers, the Yellow-shouldered (Sitagra

capensis ) is ubiquitous ; every little pond where reeds or willows or

long grass grow has its colony, and in the breeding season the

males are very conspicuous in their bright black and yellow dress

as they chase each other slowly with their extraordinary flapping

flight, like that of a large weak-flying moth. The Red Caffre-

fink (Pyromelana oryx) inhabits the same sort of places and has

just the same manners and customs. I saw their purse-shaped

nests in hundreds along the Marko River, and they were

feeding in the oat-fields after the breeding-season in the fashion

of Sparrows at home. They also looked very much like

Sparrows at that time of the year.


All round Kimberley, and to the east of the railway line

between that town and Mafeking, there were great numbers of

the White-browed Weaver (Ploceipasser mahali).


This bird has quite different habits to the two preceding

species. It builds an untidy sparrow-like nest of grass, with very

little weaving in it. I have never found them except in acacia-

thorn trees, and generally at a good distance from -water. Dr.

Butler, I think, in his notes on South African birds, accuses it of

a sweet song ; it certainly has a song, lots of it, in fact it never

seems to stop, but every other note of sweetness is preceded by that

whizzy noise mixed up with an imitation of a heavy chain being

shaken violently, that all Weavers seem to delight in ; this song


it starts well before dawn, and as for quarrelling-. I once got


into camp after dark, aud after my supper wrapped a kaross round

me and laydown under some acacia- or wait-a-bit thorns, full of

nests of the White-browed Weaver. This was during the



This would be Estrilda angolensis , the species without the crimson ear patch. Figured

Vol. I. New Series, p. 120 .—Ed.



