I-'icld Notes /roiii Masliuiialaiid. 
43 
It is a great pity that there is no book (at least so far as I 
am aware of) witli .good coloured plates of South African birds, 
as one so often sees birds which one cannot identify. The 
l)ir(l which was continually in the orange trees, along with a 
couple of \'ellow-vented Bulbuls, was, I believe, a species of 
thrush: black eyes; horn-coloured beak, legs and feet; French- 
grey head; breast and tail, the latter shading into deep sepia or 
l)rown at the tip; back, and under wings rust-coloured; each 
feather on the breast had the merest suspicion of a tii)ping of 
white — a very striking bird and very sweet songster; when 
singing, its favourite perch was an old dead b'ue-gum, which it 
sat on — right at the top of the highest twig it could get to. 1 
never heard it sing while in company with the bulbuls, but 
frequently heard it utter a low call-note, which was never 
an.swered, for I only saw the one bird, which, by the way, hung 
about the house for a couple of weeks. 
Of the various nests I saw the most interesting, to me, 
were those of the " bishop-birds." They are such extraor- 
dinary workers, these weavers of various species. The Scarlet 
Bishops' nests are built actually on the edge of the Spruits, the 
stems of three or four rushes being woven into the nest, the 
material being mostly " stick-grass;" the nest is about twice as 
large as a wren's, but of a more elongate shape and the hole 
nearer the top. Some were lined with feathers, but others were 
quite unlined. The clutch consists of three to five hedge- 
sparrow-blue eggs, similar in shape to a Sand Martin's, though 
sometimes one finds an odd one of an almost circular shape. 
The nests of the Orange Bishops, unlike those of their Scarlet 
congeners, are stispended from a thorn tree, usually hanging 
over water, but occasionally one finds a nesting colony three cr 
four hundred yards away from water. These nests are much 
rounder in shape, with the entrance hole lower down and 
protected with a " lip," to prevent the rain blowing in and the 
young blowing out ! The eggs are very variable in colour : 
pale blue with brownish spots and blotches; white with the same 
markings : once I found a clutch exactly resembling those of 
the British Sparrow (Passer do)nesticus}l All the nests I 
examined were thickly lined with feathers. 
To be continued. 
