427 
by Mr. Claude Grant in South Africa. 
undulating, and the call is somewhat harsh but clear. I 
have not succeeded in finding the nest, although I have 
taken young birds just out of it. 
The soft parts are:—Adult £ . Irides brown ; wattle round 
eye and bill cobalt-blue ; legs and toes slate-coloured. The 
female has no wattle and the bill is slate-blue. The voun^ 
male is like the female, but the bill is dark horn-coloured, 
lighter at the base. 
355. Dicrurus afer. 
CC. Plettenberg Bay, Mch. (4); 2L Sibudeni, Jan. (3); 
Tv. Klein Letaba, July, Aug., Sept. (7) ; Legogot, Apl., 
May (2); F. Coguno, July (2); Masambeti, Nov. (1) ; 
Beira, Dec. (1); Tambarara, Apl., May, June (3); Tete„ 
Sept. (3). 
Birds from Tete average a good deal smaller than those 
from Cape Colony, viz. 
Plettenberg Bay, £ . 
Wing. 
138 mm. 
Tail. 
124 mm. 
„ „ <? juv. .. 
. 125 
113 
5 ) ?. 
. 130 
117 
Tete, d. 
. 126 
112 
„ ?. 
. 116 
106 
[“ Manengwani 99 of the Machangaan. 
This species was noted in the Knysna district, Natal, 
Zululand, the Eastern and North-Eastern Transvaal, and 
the Inhambane, Beira, Gorongoza, and Tete districts of 
Portuguese East Africa. It frequents well-wooded country, 
usually in pairs, and seems partial to the outskirts of 
the woods and forests ; it regularly takes up its station 
on the branches of a bare or dead tree, from which it darts 
out on passing insects. On grass being fired it comes in 
numbers to catch the insects that are driven out, and will 
dash repeatedly right into the burning herbage with absolute 
fearlessness. The cry is loud and harsh, and the flight is 
somewhat swift. 
The soft parts are :— $ ad. Irides red; bill, legs and toes 
black, d juv. Irides brown. $ ad. Irides rich brown.] 
