Annals of the Teansvaal Museum. 
237 
but aberrans is a much larger bird of more sedentary habits, as well as 
having the tail always very much longer than the wing. 
C. aberrans seems to be widely distributed in suitable localities, the 
Transvaal Museum having specimens whose range extends from Grahams- 
town to the Northern Transvaal. Another closely-allied species ( C . alti- 
cola, Shell.) occurs in Nyassaland. It is fairly plentiful in the scrub at the 
foot of the hills round Pretoria, but is not, apparently found in the bushveld 
or even far from the hills ; during the winter months it sometimes strays 
into the city near the Museum from the adjacent Daspoort Range. The 
call-note of this species closely resembles that of Prinia mystacea, and is 
sometimes like that of Camaroptera brevicaudata ; but one is not likely 
to mistake aberrans for either of these species, since the situations in which 
it is found suit neither of them. During the breeding season the parents 
when alarmed become very anxious for the safety of their young, dancing 
about in an excited manner in the middle of some bush near the ground, 
and uttering varied plaintive notes. I have not so far heard this species 
utter any loud call-note, and I think it must be, on the whole, rather 
quieter than its congeners. 
On the 10th January last, for the first time I took the eggs of this 
species, shooting the hen to make sure of their identity. The nest was 
of the typical cisticoline composition, and placed in a bunch of grass 
surrounded by thorn scrub ; the eggs contained in it were of a pale greenish 
blue, finely spotted with various shades of brown, and measured 17 -3-17 *7 
X 12 4-12 -8 mm. 
Specimens from Pondoland are consistently smaller and whiter on the 
under surface of body than those from elsewhere, and I am therefore 
naming them 
Cisticola aberrans minor, subsp. nov. 
The type of this subspecies is No. 9208, an adult 9 collected by 
H. H. Swinny, Port St. Johns District, Pondoland ; this specimen was 
shot at a nest which is now in the Transvaal Museum collection, together 
with four eggs. The nest is like that described above, and the eggs are 
white with fine pink spots concentrated in a halo round the obtuse end ; 
they measure 15 -5-16 -1 X 11 *6-12 -2 mm. 
Specimens of C. aberrans in the Transvaal Museum. 
No. 
Locality. 
Date. 
Sex. 
Wing. 
Tail. 
Tars. 
Culm. 
6845 
Red Hill, Natal. . 
. 30 /9 /09 
* 
55 
61 
22 
11 
4244 
Grahamstown. . . . 
-'/1/06 
? (<?) 
54 
59 
20 
2 
4243 
.... 
-/1/06 
o* . 
55 
67 
21 
11 
4245 
99 • • • • 
-/1/06 
4 
52 
61 
21 
11 
4246 
99 .... 
-/1/06 
? 
51 
62 
20 
11 
6851 
Pretoria 
. 10/12/09 
59 
68 
21 
12 
6852 
. 10/12/09 
juv. 
52 
68 
20 
10 -5 
6856 
9 9 
. 18/12/09 
55 
64? 
21 
12 
6152 
99 
. 10/12/09 
<? 
60 
67 
20 
12 
6854 
. 10/12/09 
<? 
58 
60 
22 
12 
6855 
99 
. 18/12/09 
? 
52 
60 
19 -5 
12 
