CHATS 29 



(i.e. the first long -wing-feather), and its smaller size being 

 5 J inches long to the other's 6^ inches. This bird is called 

 the " Dagbreker "' by the Boers (meaning Daybreaker), a 

 name which is, however, also applied to the Familiar Chat 

 in certain districts. 



It is found in Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Bechu- 

 analand and the Transvaal. It is not uncommon in the 

 Springfontein and Bloemfontein districts of the Orange 

 Free State. 



It nests under a rock or stone, occasionally in a wall or 

 tinder a tussock of grass. 



At Springfontein, where the Boers call both this bird and 

 the Familiar Chat the "Dagbreker," we found the latter 

 bird nesting in • holes in walls, banks, outbuildings, &c., 

 whereas the Sickle-wing was only found in the cultivated 

 land and on the " flats " of the veld, where it nests either 

 in an ant-heap or under a bush or tuft of grass. The nest 

 is rather a deep cup, of dried weed-stalk and small twigs, 

 lined with fibre and hair. The nest in the photograph was 

 situated under a wild " Forget-me-not " on level ground 

 and contained three eggs ; on the same flat was another 

 nest containing young, also under a weed. The eggs are 

 usually three in number and of a light bluish-green colour, 

 sparsely freckled on the blunt end with greyish-buff. 



The White-shouldered Bush Chat {Thamnolcea cinna- 

 momeiventris) is glossy blue-black above and below, except- 

 ing the shoulders, which are adorned with a conspicuous 

 white patch, and the rump region, abdomen and flanks, 

 which are chestnut. A whitish bar separates the black 

 of the breast from the chestnut. Length, 8| 'inches. 



It is fairly common on the krantzes in the Grahams- 

 town kloofs, where it usually lays in old Swallows' nests. 

 Three eggs of a bluish-white ground spotted and dotted 



