114 BIRD ARCHITECTS 



scarlet-red ; the lower back and adjacent regions grey ; the 

 tail-feathers darker grey edged with yellow. Lower surface 

 white, excepting the sides of the body, which are grey. 

 Length, 5f inches. The female is grey above and white 

 below, the head, neck, and upper chest being tinged with 

 pale orange. This pretty species ranges from the Eastern 

 and Northern Transvaal to Nyassaland, but is nowhere 

 exactly common. It builds a rough retort-like nest, some- 

 what like that of the Bottle Weaver, and lays blue eggs. 



The Buffalo Weaver-Bird {Textor niger) is a black bird with 

 a red bill, measuring about 9J inches in length. The female is 

 browner in colour with a whitish throat. It ranges from the 

 Eastern Portuguese territory through the Transvaal and 

 South Ehodesia to the regions of Lake Ngami and Damara- 

 land. This bird builds a large untidy nest of twigs and sticks, 

 some half dozen pairs imiting to build such a nest, in which 

 openings are left to serve as receptacles for their eggs and 

 roosting places. The eggs — 3 to 4 in number; — may be looked 

 for in December, and are greyish-white, streaked with grey 

 and brown. 



The White-browed Weaver {Ploceipasser mahali) is a light 

 brown sparrow-like bird with a black head and a conspicuous 

 white eyebrow. 



It is an extremely common bird around Brandfort, Orange 

 Free State, where its loud, peculiar warble may always be 

 heard amongst the mimosa scrub. 



Here, too, they construct their large, untidy nests of 

 grass stems, with two entrance holes below ; one is stopped 

 up during the breeding season, but is opened for the winter 

 months, when the nest serves as a roosting place. We have 

 seen as many as ten or twelve nests in a single tree. 



The eggs are white, shaded with pink, and blotched and 

 streaked with pinkish-brown. 



