perched before the sun rose. Sometimes they liunted singly, sometimes in companies ; 

 and their fiiglit being very eccentric, I found them difficult to shoot.' " 



Colonels Butler and Feilden and Captain Reid write: — "A permanent and most 

 abundant resident in the neighbourhood of Newcastle. It probably breeds twice, for 

 Feilden found a nest containing three incubated eggs in the bank of the Buffalo River, 

 on the 6th of August, and it was undoulitedly breeding in the clay banks of the rivers 

 and streams near Newcastle in October and November." 



Mr. Ayres writes : — " This Martin is as common in the Transvaal in June and July 

 as it is in the upper districts of Natal. They are fond of following in the course of a 

 river, skimming along with ratlier eccentric flight within a few feet of the surface of the 

 water." 



In the Transvaal it is found all the year round, according to Mr. Ayres, and was 

 noticed by him in the Lydenburg district. A specimen is in the British Museum from 

 Shupanga on the Zambesi, where it was procured by Sir John Kirk as it was flying 

 round the ship in the Elephant Marsh. 



The descriptions are taken from the British Museum ' Catalogue of Birds,' and the 

 figures in the Plate are drawn from specimens in Captain Shelley's collection. 



3 b 



